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A Lesson in Patriotism 



OPEN AIR CRUSADERS 



A STORY OF 

THE ELIZABETH McCORMICK 
OPEN AIR SCHOOL 

TOGETHER WITH A 

GENERAL ACCOUNT OF OPEN AIR SCHOOL WORK 

IN CHICAGO AND A CHAPTER ON 

SCHOOL VENTILATION 



EDITED t BY; ^ 

SHERMAN C' KINGSLEY 

General Superintendent of the United Charities of Chicago 



ILL USTRA TED 




Through the generosity of the Trustees of the Elizabeth McCormick 
Memorial Fund, the United Charities of Chicago has been enabled to distribute 
5,000 copies of this book free of charge. Of this edition some copies are still 
available for distribution in this way to tuberculosis, charity and educational 
organizations. 

In compliance with a desire expressed in letters from all sections of the 
country, it has been determined to publish another edition which will be placed 
on sale for the nominal price of fifty cents. All receipts above cost of publication 
will be used to promote the open air school work. Address, Open Air Crusaders, 
51 La Salle Street, Chicago, 111. 



\3-^. 









First Edition 5000, January 10, 191 1 
Second Edition 5000, March i, 191 1 



Copyright, 191 i 
UNITED CHARITIES OF CHICAGO 



By Tranaicf 

MOV -le 1^25 



K\it HaftfBitit ^rrSB 

R. R. DONNELLEY &• SONS COMPANY 
CHICAGO 



Sfbtrattnn 

TO THE MEMORY OF ELIZABETH, DAUGH- 
TER OF Mr. and Mrs. CYRUS HALL McCOR- 
MICK, A CHILD WHOSE RADIANT YOUNG 
LIFE WAS SO MARKED BY DEEDS OF KIND- 
LINESS TO OTHERS THAT THESE MINIS- 
TRIES OF LOVE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO 
CEASE WHEN, AT THE AGE OF TWELVE, 
SHE WAS CALLED INTO THE PRESENCE OF 
THE GREAT FRIEND OF ALL THE CHILDREN. 



l^rtfutt 



This little book concerns itself with the physical needs of school 
children. It is a story of the results obtained by giving a group of 
physically deficient pupils, most of them predisposed to tuber- 
culosis, a year in an open air school; of their gain in health and 
mentality; of the part these little fresh air crusaders have already 
had in opening twenty thousand schoolhouse windows. The school 
was conducted by the United Charities of Chicago and the expense 
of maintenance, attendants and equipment was met through a grant 
to the Society by the Trustees of the Elizabeth McCormick Mem- 
orial Fund, a foundation in honor of the child to whose memory 
this book is dedicated. The Board of Education lent its generous and 
hearty co-operation by furnishing the school equipment, teacher, 
the supervision and whole conduct of the educational side of the work. 
Inquiries about the school have come from many different states, 
as well as from abroad, and have been so numerous that this some- 
what detailed report is circulated in the hope that it may be of ser- 
vice to other communities where health needs and health rights of 
the children should be recognized and met. Above all it is hoped 
that this book will help in the movement to win their fresh air rights 
for all children. To make the book of the broadest possible service, to 
answer questions already asked and to anticipate others, we have 
included a chart giving a statement of the open air school movement 
up to date; a chapter on the open window school in Chicago by 
the principal of the Graham school; a chapter on the open air 
summer schools, taken largely from the 1909 report on Chicago's 
First Open Air School, issued by the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, 
the large general agency which stands pre-eminently for the tubercu- 
losis cause in Chicago ; a chapter dealing with school life in the open 
air, written especially for this book by Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, 
president of the National Education Association and superin- 
tendent of the Chicago public schools : also a chapter on school ven- 
tilation which Dr. Evans, Health Commissioner of the City of 
Chicago, and his associates on the Chicago Ventilation Commission 
have kindly contributed. 

Ventilating systems which do not ventilate have been reverenced 
too long. It is a serious matter when a school into which a child is 
forced actually contributes to his physical decline. The dull and 
backward pupil who cannot get his lesson is often kept in at recess 
or after school. He has sat for hours at a rigid desk, in an unnat- 



rrfare 



ural posture, in an over-heated room, the over-dried thirsty air sap- 
ping his already wilted system, the windows of the school never 
opened because the janitor, the ventilating engineer, and perhaps 
the teacher, who likes to have the thermometer 75 or more, say no. 

The Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School began its work in the 
pleasantest part of the year, when it was a delight to be out of doors, 
but in a short time very cold weather set in, the thermometer stand- 
ing below zero on several different days. Every new movement at 
some time has its severe test and this open air school was no exception. 
Every precaution that could be taken was made in anticipation of 
the needs that would develop in this departure from the usual school 
regime. Yet complaints were brought to the superintendent of the 
city schools that the children on the roof were suffering on these 
extreme days. The medical staff, the medical director and those in 
charge were watching the children very closely and knew that in 
spite of the weather these little Eskimo clad people were cheerful 
and happy and comfortable. A meeting was planned which brought 
together the medical staff, the superintendent of schools, the super- 
visor and other people prominent in educational, philanthropic and 
medical professions. The day chosen for the meeting happened to 
be one of the most disagreeable days of the winter. A cold, freezing 
rain had been drizzling for twenty-four hours, the roof was slippery, 
the day was grey and dark and the air full of a profound chill. The 
electric lights in the study tent had been turned on. It was one of 
those discouraging days when it is difficult not to feel blue and when 
the teacher learns to anticipate poor lessons, listless pupils and 
an uncomfortable day. The visitors to the open air school found the 
discouragement of the day quite routed by the unaffected good spirits 
of the children. They heard wide-awake recitations, saw a group of 
alert and attentive children. They felt of the heavy blanket suits, 
examined the warm boots and noted the general comfort of the child. 
Spirited gymnastics were carried on under the shelter tent. The 
visitors looked over records, saw the increase in weight, the decrease 
in temperature and observed the general atmosphere of content. 
One remarked: "If these children are suffering from the cold, we 
would like to try it ourselves." One or two who came to scoff 
remained to take notes. 

The conference which followed in the nursery building manifested 
the same spirit of enthusiastic and hearty commendation and offi- 
cially set the stamp of approval upon the open air school idea. It 
was a decisive victory. By the next morning every paper in the city 
had told the people of Chicago what fresh air was doing for the little 
group of children on the snowy roof, and had made the story vivid 
by striking photographs of the boys and girls in their picturesque 



rtfntt 



Eskimo suits which were guaranteed to attract the attention and 
arouse the interest of the most indifferent reader. This definite 
demonstration of the remarkable effects which the fresh air treat- 
ment brings about in sick children set people in general, fathers and 
mothers, as well as teachers and doctors, to wondering what would be 
the results of similar treatment upon well children. As a result of 
the general public interest, the Board of Education of the City of 
Chicago on December 29, 1909, voted to establish twenty open 
window rooms in the Graham school, where the experiment had been 
under way in two rooms since September. On September 10, 1910, 
orders came from the superintendent's office to open all the windows 
in all the public schools of the city at least three times a day. The 
twenty thousand windows were opened. 

The school child no longer has to acquire tuberculosis as an in- 
dispensable preliminary to obtaining fresh air for his schoolroom. 
Normal children are beginning to share a little in the special privi- 
leges of the sub-normal. The day may even come when our youth 
will not be compelled to pay the penalty for being bright and strong 
and well by being deprived of the individual attention and the sani- 
tary surroundings which are to-day the boon of the physically and 
mentally deficient child. Toward the attainment of this ideal the 
open air school, especially as modified to include the non-tuberculous, 
marks one long step. 

Many people have cheerfully co-operated in the work of this 
school. The community is full of friends for such children and they 
have rallied to the cause wherever and whenever their services could 
be utilized. It will be almost impossible to give full credit by name 
to all the friends who have helped in this movement, but we wish 
especially to acknowledge our obligation to these persons for their 
help in the work and for assisting us in the preparation of this book: 
The ladies of the Winnetka Congregational Church, who made the 
Eskimo suits for the children of the school; the Chicago Public 
School Extension Committee, who sent a story-teller to amuse the 
children once a week; the members of the consulting staff, Dr. W. 

A. Evans, Dr. John A. Robison, Dr. H. B. Favill and Dr. Theodore 

B. Sachs, who gave generously of their time and interest to the 
supervision of the school; Dr. James A. Britton, physician in charge, 
to whom more than to any other one person is due the credit for the 
conduct and success of the school, and whose carefully kept records 
have furnished our statistics; Miss Myrn Brockett, superintendent of 
the Mary Crane Nursery, who, with the physician in charge, had gen- 
eral supervision of the details of the management and who imparted 
to the school in remarkable degree the friendly, home-like spirit of the 
nursery life; Miss Alice Bunker, the efficient teacher provided by 



rpfar? 



the Board of Education, Miss Ruth Gamble, matron in charge, and 
Mrs. Laura J. Collar, superintendent of Camp Algonquin, whose 
hospitality made the month of June so happy and profitable for the 
children. We have elsewhere acknowledged our indebtedness to Mr. 
Frank E. Wing, Superintendent of the Municipal Sanatorium, 
Principal Wm. E. Watt, of the Graham School, Health Com- 
missioner W. A. Evans and Superintendent Ella Flagg Young 
for the chapters which they have contributed to this book. 
Acknowledgment is also due Miss Mabel Brown Ellis, of the United 
Charities, for the part she has had in building the book. Of those in 
other cities who have assisted us, we thank the "Survey" for several 
illustrations, Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, of the Russell Sage Foundation, 
for the permission to reprint the bibliography of the open air school 
movement from his recent book on Open Air Schools, and Dr. Wm. 
Charles White, of Pittsburg, Pa., Dr. Geo. W. Goler and Mrs. Helen 
B, Arnold, of Rochester, N. Y., Dr. Helen C. Putnam and Dr. Ellen 
A. Stone, of Providence, R. L, Miss Sara E. Coates, of Newport, R. L, 
Mr. S. H. Stone, of Boston, Mass., Dr. Henry F. StoU, of Hartford, 
Conn., Superintendent of Schools Randall Spaulding, of Montclair, 
N. J., the Superintendent of Schools of Cambridge, Mass., and Mr. 
Frank H. Mann, Miss EHzabeth Crowell, Miss Mary C. Plunkett, 
Mr. W. Frank Persons, Mrs. Edward Mandell, Principal John Doty, 
and Associate Superintendent of Schools StraubenmuUer, of New 
York City, for information concerning the open air school work in 
their respective cities. 

If this simple record of the results of open air treatment upon a 
group of Chicago children predisposed to sickness and failure, proves 
of service in calling attention to the physical needs of all school 
children and of help in winning them their fresh air rights, the pur- 
pose of both school and book will have been accomplished. 

Sherman C. Kingsley. 



10 



®abb of OInnteute 



CHAPTER I Page 

THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN 15 

Compiled by Alice Bunker and Mabel Brown Ellis 

CHAPTER II 
THE STORY OF THE SCHOOL 33 

By Sherman C. Kingsley 

CHAPTER III 
DETAILS OF THE MANAGEMENT ....... 45 

By James A. Britton, M.D. 

CHAPTER IV 
STATISTICS 57 

By James A. Britton, M. D. 

CHAPTER V 

COMMENT AROUSED BY THE SCHOOL 63 

By Theodore B. Sachs, M. D., Mr. Frank E. Wing, 
Henry B. Favill, M. D., John Robison, M. D. 

and the Chicago Press 

CHAPTER VI 

CHICAGO'S FIRST OPEN AIR SCHOOL 73 

By Frank E. Wing 

CHAPTER VII 
CHICAGO'S OPEN WINDOW SCHOOL 81 

By William E. Watt 

CHAPTER VIII 

VENTILATION OF SCHOOL ROOMS 89 

By the Chicago Ventilation Commission. 

CHAPTER IX 
SCHOOL LIFE IN THE OPEN AIR loi 

By Mrs. Ella Flagg Young 

Addenda: Chart Comparing Methods and Results of Open Air School Work 
in Eight American Cities. Effect of Open Air Work Upon the 
the Teacher. Bibliography of Open Air School Movement. 



11 



ICtat nf 3IU«atratt0tt0 



A Lesson in Patriotism .... 

Open Air, Open Minds 

Candidates for Open Air School Treatment 

Infection through Food 

The Baseball Game at Camp Algonquin 

Exercising on the Roof 

The Flag-Raising on Washington's Birthday 
The School Where No One Failed 

The Sick Child 

Exterior of Mary Crane Nursery . 
Plan of the Nursery Roof .... 
The Monthly Examination by the Physician in 
Taking Temperature and Pulse 

Dinner Time 

In the Steamer Chairs . . . . . 

On the Cots ...... 

The Last Lunch at Camp Algonquin 
Studying under the Oaks at Camp Algonquin 
Inspection of School by Mrs. Ella Flagg Young 
How THE Papers Helped .... 

The Tuberculosis Institute School Tent 

A Class in Basketry 

The Toothbrush Drill .... 

In the Balance 

Open Windows in January .... 
Fresh Air Fiends of the Graham School 
The First Open Air Kindergarten . 
A Camp Algonquin Schoolroom 
Elizabeth McCormick School No 2 
Open Window Room at Hamline School 
America's Opportunity 



Frontispiece 



Facing 
Page 



Charge 



14 
16 
16 
29 
30 
32 
34 

37 
40 
42 
46 
46 
53 
54 
54 
58 
64 
69 
70 
74 
74 

77 
80 
82 
82 

87 

90 

100 



Tailpiece 



12 



ICtBt of ®I|artj0 



Facing 
Page 

Distance Travelled by Pupils of Open Air School . . 39 

Pattern of Hoods for Eskimo Suits 49 

Pattern of Sleeping Bags 50 

Grade of Open Air School Pupils Compared with Normal 

Children 59 

Weight of Open Air School Children Compared with 

Normal 61 

Methods and Results of Open Air Schools in Eight Ameri- 
can Cities 107 



13 



Olljaptrr (§m 

School and Family History of the Children Attending the Elizabeth 
McCoRMicK Open Air School from January to June, 1910. School 
Songs and Yells. 



15 




Candidates for Open Air School Treatment. 




Infection Through Food. 

The man, who is in the third degree of tuberculosis, and who coughs constantly, is cutting cabbage 
for the winter supply of sauerkraut for the family. 

16 



©If^ #t0ry 0f t\xt (Hi^xihrm 



JpEO was recruited from the shivering ranks 
ty. of that little army of children who supply 
the family fuel by picking coal along the 
railroad track. The basement rooms to 
which, in the raw winter mornings, he carried 
home his heavy sack of broken bits of coal 
were so dark that a lamp was kept burning 
all day long. His widowed mother supported 
her family of three by taking in washing. 
For just half his short life, Leo has been 
almost constantly ill. 

Though he was weaker physically than 
many of his schoolmates, he had a much 
more active mind than most of them. He 
was a hard worker and very ambitious, show- 
ing great interest in everything pertaining to 
school-work. His deportment improved won- 
derfully after he entered the school. 

JOHN'S father deserted two years ago. 
Since that time, the only income of the 
family of five has been the seven dollars 
a week earned by an older son in a printing- 
office, plus the few cents a day which the 
tubercular mother made, in her spare mo- 
ments, by tying twine for a tag manufactur- 
ing company. She refused a chance to send 
John to Colorado for free treatment, saying 
that he was now old enough to go to work and 
they could no longer get along without what 
he might earn. 

John exhibited great interest in his school 
work. He was a very intelligent child and 
had the most active mind of any boy in the 
school. 

/|P|TTO was a Norwegian boy. His father 
Vll/ was a laborer who made about ten dollars 
a week. Their rooms on the second floor 
rear were very dirty and poorly lighted. 
Otto slept with a brother who had tuber- 
culosis and was later sent to Naperville for 
treatment. 



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Otto was a quiet lad who attended strictly 
to his studies. He had an active mind and 
did very creditable work in the Open Air 
School. 



7|THE father of Joseph and Molly died of 
w tuberculosis brought on by exposure and 
lack of food, and for a time it seemed as if 
the fate of the children might be similar. 
But a wealthy friend assumed the burden of 
the family support and they are now com- 
fortably provided for. 

At times Joseph worked very hard at his 
lessons and then apparently found it neces- 
sary to rest ,awhile from his exertions. He 
seemed never to lack interest in his work, 
but there were days when he appeared to be 
incapable of making an effort. Probably as 
his health improves, he will be able to achieve 
better results in his studies. 

Molly, unlike her brother, was never too 
exhausted to study. She was a faithful little 
worker, ever on the alert to master each new 
subject. 



•Elinor 



Agr 
12 



5-B 



^HE place which Elinor called home was 
^ a five-room rear cottage, built up close 
to the front house. The back windows 
looked on a narrow, dirty alley. The neigh- 
borhood was congested, the house dark and 
gloomy. Both father and mother drank to 
excess. 

Elinor was quite slow in some of her studies 
at first, but through perseverance won and 
was the brightest pupil in her class at the 
end of the year. 




18 



(§pm Atr Cntaa&fra 



A KIND landlord had sealed up all the 
windows in John's basement home so 
that it was impossible to open any of them. 
Damp, dirt, and disorder made a bad combi- 
nation for the five children whose father had 
died of tuberculosis, and whose mother could, 
at best, earn less than five dollars a week by 
day-work. 

It was not strange that in school John at 
first appeared to be very dull. The outdoor 
air and nourishing food combined, however, 
to make him improve very rapidly, and by 
the end of the year he was standing among 
the highest in his lessons. 



^ ,^ 



jiftRIEDA lived in a large, airy flat in a fairly 
,3v good neighborhood, Her mother had 
consumption and of the nine children, 
three showed traces of infection. Frieda had 
a slight cough and marked loss of appetite 
and weight. 

She had been considered almost a hopeless 
case in school so far as ability to keep up with 
her grade was concerned. In the Open Air 
School, she was put into the fifth grade, 
showed improvement in the first two months, 
and while she did not develop into a brilliant 
student, she was not only able to keep up 
with her class but will enter sixth grade with 
them in the fall. 






/jpkNE year ago, Joseph had a severe attack 
vil/ of pneumonia. It was followed by night- 
sweats, chills and fever. Heart complica- 
tions increased the handicap against which 
the lad was carrying on a losing fight when 
the nurse found him. She found < also the 
mother and a little brother in the incipient 
stages of tuberculosis and began a course of 
home instruction which has brought about 
marked improvement in the whole family. 

Joseph did his school work well but was 
three years behind in his studies. If his 
health continues to improve, he will probably 
be able to make up some of his lost time. 

19 



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'HE case of Maurice illustrates the need 
of laws to compel the removal of the tu- 
berculous from the homes which they 
endanger. Maurice's father, who was in the 
advanced stages of consumption and would not 
take proper precautions, absolutely refused to 
go away for free treatment, although he fully 
realized that his presence might mean infection 
for others, and knew that his wife and two chil- 
dren had not enough to eat while he remained 
at home. His death in April enabled his 
wife to go to work in a laundry at $6.00 a 
week, which remains the sole income of the 
family. The little girl has incurable heart 
trouble. Maurice is an incipient case of 
tuberculosis. 

He was very listless during much of the 
time and seemed too tired to do his school 
work. Toward the end of the year he im- 
proved, and as he led the school in gain in 
weight during the month of June, he will 
doubtless do much better work next year. 

[HEN found by the nurse, Sarah was 
sleeping in an eight by ten bedroom with 
one six by three window which was 
usually closed. Two brothers slept in the 
same room. One month later, the records 
show that Sarah was sleeping alone in a large 
room with two windows wide open. 

She was one of those who brought reports 
of slow progress in other schools. She seemed 
very nervous, listless and physically unable 
to work. On coming to the Open Air School 
she made a great effort to succeed and her 
work showed great improvement. 




20 



Wpm Atr (Erusab^rB 



[ARY'S father died of pulmonary tuber- 
culosis when Mary was two years old. 
Her brother was also tubercular and had 
been at the Naperville Sanatorium for treat- 
ment. Her mother supported the three child- 
dren by night scrubbing. The little rear 
cottage where they lived was scrupulously 
clean and Mary had excellent care. 

She was a bright student but so frail that 
she could not be allowed to do as much work 
as she was mentally capable of accomplishing. 
She took great interest in her lessons and 
was apt to work beyond her strength. 






^THE rag shop over which Margaret and 
w John made their home was reported to 
the Health Department as a disease- 
breeding spot, and the family were compelled 
to move to more sanitary surroundings. 
Of the family of ten, six have tuberculosis. 

Little Margaret has had a hard struggle to 
complete the first grade. She entered school 
for the first time in September, 190S. Early 
in October of that year she contracted scarlet 
fever and was out of school until January, 
19 10, when she was admitted to the Open 
Air School. She was present twenty-six days 
when she met with an accident which kept 
her at home five weeks. She is an exception- 
ally bright child and if she could be present 
an entire school year, would easily make 
two grades, but she is not strong enough to 
warrant us in pushing her in her work. 

John was very listless at the beginning of 
the year. The physical attitudes he assumed 
indicated exhaustion of body and mind. 
After the first month, his work showed 
marked improvement until May, when he 
again lost interest for a short time but he 
more than made up for it during the month 
of June. 



r|||tILDRED slept with her sister in an eight 

jJvX by ten bedroom with one small window 

less than one foot from the next building. 

Her father was an Italian laborer on an 




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average income of ten dollars a week. There 
were four other children in the family. 

Mildred worried lest the Open Air School 
might be discontinued, for she knew that 
would end her school education, as she is 
unable to climb stairs or to attend school 
indoors. She was so eager to attend school 
this year that she tried three times during 
September but failed, being present only 
two and one half days in all. In February 
she heard of the Open Air School, made 
application at once and was admitted. Her 
physician had forbidden her attendance at 
school and had advised her living out of 
doors. Her health has improved very much 
and she never had a headache after com- 
ing to the school. She used to sufTer con- 
stantly while at home. She studied very 
hard indeed and was delighted to think that 
she was able to finish the seventh grade in 
half the time required. 






/|{\ LIVER and Wyburn have a history _ of 
vR tuberculosis on both sides of the family. 
Their own father and their mother's 
father died of the disease and the father's 
sister is now an advanced case. Since the 
father's death, the children have attended 
the Mary Crane Nursery. Although they 
come from a good home, where they receive 
excellent care, they have always been pale, 
undersized and delicate. Last fall both 
children had tonsils and adenoids removed. 

Oliver is an extremely intelligent child and 
could easily have made the grade in the eigh- 
teen weeks that he attended school. But 
he is very nervous and it was thought best 
to allow him a full year in the grade so that 
he might progress slowly and naturally 
without any urging. 

Wyburn was too young to enter the school 
but he was allowed to gather whatever 
crumbs of knowledge he was able to assim- 
ilate. He very rarely awoke to attend the 
afternoon sessions. He learned to read and 
write a little but care was taken not to overtax 
his strength. 



22 



(§pm Air Olruaabrrs 



/-|THi\RLES came from a home where all 
VfJ' conditions seemed favorable to the 
development of a healthy boyhood. His 
father made a good living; there were only 
two children; the family lived in a large 
house of their own, with a big yard; Charles 
slept alone in a light, airy bedroom. The 
mother was not strong but had never been 
diagnosed as tubercular. Yet Charles had 
the typical symptoms of the incipient stages 
of tuberculosis. 

In school he was very quiet at first and 
showed no interest in the other children, but 
he was soon as active as any of them. He 
was among those who were very insistent for 
home work. In fact, he talked so much at 
home about his lessons that his mother urged 
that he be allowed to take his books with him 
at night to study. As all home work was 
positively forbidden, his request could not 
be granted. Although all his studying was 
done in school hours, he made two grades. 






'ItfNTIL two months before her father died 
aX of tuberculosis, Julia slept in the same 
bed with him. Her home was at that 
time in a dark, damp basement, where the 
sunshine never came. Her mother worked in 
a tailoring-shop for nine dollars a week and 
the grandmother took care of the three 
children. 

Julia was exceptionally poor in all her 
studies when she entered the school. She 
improved rapidly, however, and is now up to 
grade in all her work. 



(Eliarlpa M. 



Agr 
9 



3-5 




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(i»rabF 
2-3 






JJdJARRY was described by his former teach- 
er as "a very nervous child." His child- 
hood, together with seven brothers -and 
sisters, a sickly mother and an abusive father, 
was spent in three small bare rooms on the 
third floor of an old tenement building. He 
never had any playground but the street. 
Harry has always suffered from constipation 
and pain after eating. 

Though he was far from well when he came 
to the school, his mind was very active. He 

23 



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was promoted to the fifth grade, but as his 
health failed to show marked improvement, 
he was sent to the Winfield Sanatorium. 






^HE father of Margaret and Walter died 
^ of haemorrhage from the lungs after "a 
cough" lasting ten years. Their mother 
has been coughing and spitting blood for 
five years. There are six children, four of 
them in the first stages of tuberculosis, with 
intestinal complications which are probably 
tubercular. Of the two bedrooms in their 
second-floor rear apartments, one was fairly 
good; the other opened on the bath-room and 
had no other source of ventilation. 

At the beginning of the school-year, 
Margaret never smiled and seemed most 
unhappy, but before school was over, she 
took a far more cheerful view of life, lost her 
discontented look and did much better work 
in her lessons. 

Walter also improved wonderfully in dis- 
position. Though he had been sullen and 
inclined to idleness he became happy and 
industrious and showed a marked interest in 
his studies. 






'TrTRANCES is one of thirteen children who 
,^ lived in a little frame cottage directly 
back of the stockyards, where the odor 
was nauseating. Her father died one year 
ago of tuberculosis. The visiting nurse had 
never been able to induce him to take the 
slightest precautions. He expectorated in 
the sink and on the floor, and forbade any 
one of the family to open a window. The 
only outside air which this household of 
fifteen got at night came through a broken 
window-glass which they were too poor to 
replace. Frances slept with her mother who 
was also tuberculous. She could not afford 
milk and until it was supplied her, break- 
fasted on bread and coffee. 

In school, Frances made the least progress 
of any of the children. She was such a little 

24 



i§pm Air (Erusab^rfi 



weakling that she was allowed to rest during 
the entire afternoon, very rarely indeed com- 
ing into the tent for afternoon recitations. 
However, during the month of June, she 
showed much more interest than at any time 
during the year. 

rHILE Eileen's mother was at the 
Winfield Sanatorium for Tuberculosis, 
the five young children left at home saw 
an older sister die a most painful and pro- 
longed death from the same disease. They 
all slept in rooms connected by archways, so 
that although the inclosed space was large, 
it was practically the same room. The 
family were very poor. 

Eileen's report showed that she was absent 
from school seventy-five days during the 
preceding year. In the Open Air School, she 
was very slow in her work at first, but took a 
great deal of interest in her lessons and made 
rapid progress. 

TlTRANK and Joseph lived with their 
-2ll mother and little sister on the third floor, 
rear, of a crowded tenement. Their 
father deserted and went back to Bohemia 
just before the sister was born. The mother 
made an uncertain living by finishing coats, 
at which she seldom earned as much as 
three dollars a week. The children helped by 
pulling basting-threads. When found, the 
woman was in the incipient stage of tuber- 
culosis and her eyesight was failing fast. 
Dispensary treatment and glasses were pro- 
vided and the family was pensioned for six 
months so that the mother could take a rest. 
She obeyed instructions, responded readily 
to treatment and is now an arrested case and 
able to work a httle, though the income still 
has to be supplemented. 

Frank was in second grade when he came 
to the school. In spite of the fact that he lost 
several weeks while detained at home with the 
measles, he will enter fifth grade in the fall. 

Joseph was one of the liveliest little ones 
that we had in the school, but he takes as 
much interest in his work as in his play 
and completed two grades during the year 

25 



lEtlprn 




Wptn Air dirtxmhns 



MarriB A. Agp (^raht 
in 3-4 




jittt'ORRIS comes from a family where the 
jJVK mother and five brothers and sisters all 
show in thin faces, dull eyes and sallow 
skins the results of under-nourishment and 
poor living conditions. Morris and his 
father, who has had a "cough" for a year, 
slept in a basement bedroom with one window 
open just a little because the mother was 
afraid of the night air. 

Morris was very poor in his work when he 
first entered the school. He took no interest 
in his lessons and required to be urged to 
accomplish any seat work a.t all. His interest 
increased very rapidly, however, and he 
induced several of his playmates to seek 
admittance to the school. Since they were in 
robust health, we were obliged to refuse their 
request. As his health improved, his interest 
in his studies became so great that he deemed 
rest periods a waste of time, for he was anxious 
to spend every minute possible upon his work. 



(Hnxxw (E. 



12 5-fi 







^rN spite of the fact that Carrie's father is in 
clj the second stage of tuberculosis and she 
herself is an incipient case, she was not 
permitted to go to Algonquin with the other 
children because of her approaching confirma- 
tion. "If she is sick," said the clergyman, in 
the child's presence, "all the more reason 
why she should be confirmed. She is going 
to die anyway." 

Carrie found great difficulty in mastering 
her studies but she was very anxious to 
succeed 'and although she was obliged to be 
absent during June, she will enter the sixth 
grade in the fall. 



26 



(§pm Air Olrusa&era 



TrtUTH is the oldest of five children. Her 
VX father, a cigar-maker, supports his family 
of ten on a wage of $13.00 a week. Their 
second story rooms are very clean and fairly 
well lighted. 

The family came to this country from Kiev, 
Russia, when Ruth was eleven years old. 
She speaks purer English, however, than 
many of the children born in America. She 
is very anxious to become proficient in all 
branches of study taught in our schools and 
unless carefully watched, is apt to work 
beyond her strength. She made two grades 
this year. 



lutli IE. 



13 5-7 




^rONY came to this country from Italv 
^/ six years ago. He has never been well 
since. His father, a laborer, is able to 
rent only four small rooms, facing on a dirty 
alley. Tony slept with his two brothers in 
a dark bedroom with one window which was 
never opened. His parents refused to let 
the boy go to Camp Algonquin with the 
other Open Air School children in June 
because they wanted him to learn the barber 
trade and not until threatened with the 
Juvenile Court would they consent to his 
going. 

Tony's report from the school from which 
he came was most discouraging, both as 
regards scholarship and deportment; in 
fact, a petition had already been filed to have 
him transferred to the Parental School as 
unmanageable. Though thirteen years old, 
he was only in the fourth grade. After being 
at the Open Air School a short time, he showed 
such a desire to improve that he was allowed 
to try the fifth grade work, and in June was 
passed into the sixth grade. 




Song p. 



13 



4-fi 




27 



(ip?n Air (UruB^httB 



1Elt2abrtl| ilrOInrmtrk ^rltonl Bon^B 



For we have — 

Cold sprays that give us 

Cheeks like the rose, 

Temperatures that are normal 

This our record shows, 

Appetites so hearty, 

Our weight grows and grows. 

We're the Elizabeth McCormick 

Cold air Eskimos. 

That goes. 

Eat, eat, keep on eating. 
Sleep, sleep, keep on sleeping. 
Breathing fresh air night and day, 
Happy in our work and play. 

We're going to the country, 

Hurrah! Hurrah! 

We'll take our blankets with us. 

Our Eskimo suits of gray. 

We'll take our teacher with us. 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ' 

For off to fair Algonquin 

We're on our way. 

Now, if you'll kindly listen, 

We'll tell you why 

It's easy to grow husky 

And never, never die. 

We're going to the country. 

It's truly so, 

And it's eat and sleep and good fresh air 

That makes us grow. 

If thirty-three per cent of the children of the state leave school 
before the close of their twelfth year, we must manage somehow to 
give them, before we lose control of them, a fair working knowledge 
of the disease and how to prevent it. Rogers. 

28 



W^tn Atr (Evnmhns 



THE HARTFORD (CONNECTICUT) SCHOOL YELL 

Who are we? Who are we? 

We don't drink coffee, we don't drink tea. 

We're for fresh air day and night. 

We're going to keep healthy 

All right, all right. 

A CHICAGO TUBERCULOSIS INSTITUTE SCHOOL SONG 

To take our food and chew it all, 

Is as necessary quite 
As learning how to read and spell. 

Do 'rithmetic and write. 
So when we chew, let's count to ten 

Before the bite goes down. 
This happy little school will then 

Be the healthiest in town. 



Shall we avail ourselves of the knowledge we have, and address 
our efforts to the real work, which is not to be found altogether in 
quarantine, disinfection, establishing dispensaries, furnishing hos- 
pitals, camps or school, but in preventing disease in the home, and 
in the school by training our children's bodies to resist disease? 

GOLER. 

I would rather ride on earth in an ox-cart with a free circulation 
than go to Heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe 
bad air all the way. Henry David Thoreau. 

Watch the child as the potential tuberculosis seedling. 

Philip. 

The need of protecting the child is shown by the fact that about 
fifty per cent of children living in the crowded districts become 
infected by the time they are five years old. Regulation of home 
conditions, better school hygiene, the segregation of actively tuber- 
culous children, and open air schools for those who have latent 
tuberculosis are measures that should be applied more extensively; 
the more so because the child shows a strong tendency to recover, 
and the application of open air methods seem even more effectual in 
children than in adults in preventing and curing the disease. 

Trudeau. 

31 



®1|0 ^tnrjj of tl|? ^rI|ool 



Tuberculosis a Heavy Burden upon Charity Organizations. — Only 
Salvation is Prevention. — Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School 
A Preventive Measure. — Co-operation of School Board Secured. 
— Roof of Mary Crane Nursery Chosen as Site. — Grant Given 
FROM Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund. — Need of School 
Shown by Family Poverty, Children Debarred from Summer 
Outings, Children Backward in School. — School Opened Octo- 
ber 6, 1910; Enrollment Increased from 25 to 35. — Eskimo Suits 
Provided; Other Clothing. — Equipment of Nursery Building. — 
Roof Equipment, Pine Trees, Study Tent, School Supplies, Shel- 
ter Tent, Store-room, Toilet. — The Month at Camp Algonquin. — 
Results of School, Educational and Physical. — Its Influence 
upon Handicapped Children; upon Normal Children. — As an 
Educational Force, Children are Better Than Charts. 



33 



®I|? Btnv^ at tl)? Srlinnl 



Perhaps the heaviest burden laid upon the United Charities of 
Chicago by any single cause is that which results from tuberculosis. 
It has for many years constituted a great relief problem, but with the 
development of a system of tuberculosis clinics in any large city, a 
new and magnified duty as well as a new opportunity are laid upon 
the heart and conscience of its charity workers. Every day brings 
to their attention men, women and children who can be saved if 
given a chance. This has been demonstrated again and again in 
every large city in the past few years but the price must be paid. 
While consumption is no respecter of persons, the greater number of 
its victims are found in the homes of the poor. We recently made 
a study of the income in 200 families in which there is one or more 
cases of tuberculosis. They were living on about six dollars a week. 
The average number of rooms occupied was a little over three. 
You cannot have consumption in three rooms on six dollars a week 
with any success. The poor cannot afford it; the community cannot 
afford it. The entire budget of the best financed charity organization 
in the world cannot adequately provide diets, sleeping appliances for 
porches, better living quarters, rent and an equivalent for wages, 
which will give necessary rest and cessation from toil to the victims 
of the disease. The only salvation is prevention. Direct warfare 
against the "White Plague" must be supplemented by flank move- 
ments which will make more and more territory impossible for the 
disease. Increased resistance and bodily vigor are essential and the 
foundations must be laid in childhood. 

The Open Air School conducted through the year of 1909-1910 
by the United Charities of Chicago in co-operation with the Board of 
Education was one such effort. During the preceding summer, the 
Chicago Tuberculosis Institute had conducted an Open Air School 
for thirty children for about as many days. It gathered together a 
group of limp, pallid, physically blighted children. They were 
listless, inattentive, uninterested and uninteresting. There was not 
energy enough created in the body to light the mind. A thirty days' 
regime of intelligent care and feeding, of exercise and rest resulted 
in an average gain of four pounds, and in the opinion of the teachers 
and other observers, brought these pupils up to the normal standard 
in alertness and ability to sit up and take instruction and to keep up 

35 



(§ptn Air (UmBtHinsi 



sustained interest in their school work. In the minds of many people 
this seemed all very well as a warm weather enterprise, but they felt 
that it would necessarily be put aside with summer clothing at the 
approach of cold weather. To convince these doubters and to profit 
by progress already made, it seemed very desirable that the experi- 
ment should be conducted here, as it had been elsewhere during the 
winter. 

The problem of securing a site suitable for winter work was much 
more difhcult. Fortunately for the city of Chicago, through the 
generosity of Mr. R. T. Crane and his children, the Mary Crane 
Nursery afforded just the place needed. The Nrusery is a four-story 
structure with a roof forty by seventy feet, constructed with the 
possibility of being used for a playground. On this roof is an open 
air tent made of asbestos board which is used in the summer time for 
the open air treatment of sick babies. This seemed to be the best 
available site. Its equipment was ready to hand. 

The school was made possible by a grant from the Elizabeth 
McCormick Memorial Fund, a memorial to a child who although she 
lived but twelve years, displayed a most unusual personality and 
exceptional traits of character. Her interest and sympathy for the 
unfortunate, her thought and activities in their behalf, would have 
done credit to persons of maturity. The trustees of this fund are 
wisely encouraging and making possible movements that promise 
far-reaching social significance. 

The attention of the United Charities has been fastened upon the 
physically backward child through many avenues of experience : 

First, it deals with large numbers of families in which the bread 
winner is either incapacitated by tuberculosis or has died from it. 
This brings about privation which makes it almost inevitable that 
the children should contract disease. 

Then in its extensive summer outing work, it has seen the bitter 
disappointment of children who, because of their weakened physical 
condition, were rejected by the doctors, since they could not safely 
romp and play with other children. 

Following this matter up, we found large numbers of children 
throughout the city, who, on account of this condition, could not 
safely go to school, and if in school, could not take the curriculum 
offered. Many leading authorities believe that much tuberculous 
infection is acquired in early life; that during childhood the tuber- 
culosis focus remains inactive, but as the child reaches adolescence 
and is subjected to the confinement and strain of school life, or later 
in adult life meets the strain then put upon him, the lessening of the 
bodily resistance is sufficient to permit the organisms to gain the 
upper hand, and active tuberculosis in some form develops. 

36 



Wij^tn Air (UrixBuhnB 



It is not easy, and sometimes not possible, to avoid the strain put 
upon persons by the stress of home and business Hfe, but it should be 
entirely within our power to modify or altogether to remove harmful 
conditions and excessive strain in connection with school life. Any 




one who has read the stories of the thirty children given in detail 
in the opening chapter of this book must be impressed with the futility 
of imposing upon such children the average school regime — of forc- 
ing them into rooms which are frequently overheated, where there is 
little or no moisture in the air, where in deference to ventilating 
systems which often do not ventilate, they are forced to spend long 
hours in stiff and cramped positions and to perform tasks that are 
impossible to their minds, dull, feeble and inactive as they are, be- 
cause of the undernourished and devitalized little bodies. Some of 
these little people came a distance of four miles to the Open Air 
School. It is pathetic to think that such progress and such a response 
are obtained with comparative ease when one knows that there are 
thousands of such children in this city alone. No more convincing 
object lesson was in existence anywhere in Chicago last year than 

37 



(§ptn Air (tvnsuhtvB 



these little Eskimo clad people, on the roof four stories in the air 
through all the kinds of weather that could come out of the northwest 
or across the lake during the whole severe winter of 1909-1910. 

They not only made this gain for themselves but they have 
helped to open the windows and get better air for all the children in 
the city of Chicago. Through the energetic action of our wise and 
capable superintendent of schools, doors and windows of all the rooms 
in all of the schools are to be opened three times a day, and so finally 
the children have won over the ventilating system. 

On October 5, 1909, six children who had been receiving open air 
instruction on a sheltered porch at Hull House were brought to the 
Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School. With this as a nucleus, the 
number quickly increased. They came from tuberculosis clinics, 
visiting nurses, settlements, charity workers, public and private, 
from every agency that dealt with physically backward children. 
The enrollment, at first limited to twenty -five, was increased to 
thirty -five, because the pressure for admission was so great. Four 
girls too old for school work were given light work in the Nursery 
and shared in the benefits of the especially prepared food and the 
rest period of the pupils. Still, many more were turned away. In 
all, fifty -four made application for admission in spite of the fact that 
the idea was new to Chicago, and many people prophesied that the 
school could not and would not with safety to the pupils be held on 
the roof during the winter. 

To prevent the fulfilment of so dismal a prophesy, the children 
were protected against the cold by picturesque Eskimo suits made of 
heavy blankets which they slipped on over their ordinary clothing. 
The peaked caps were sewed firmly to the jackets and could be thrown 
back if desired. Both boys and girls wore, tucked into lumberman's 
boots, loose-fitting blanket trousers which combined warmth with 
the utmost freedom of movement. Thick gloves, extra blankets and 
soapstones for use on extremely cold days completed the outfit, 
the expense of which was borne entirely by the fund mentioned. 
All these garments were the property of the school and each child 
was held responsible for nightly putting his own suit into his own 
locker. For the teacher a fur-lined coat and a fur cap were provided. 
In addition to the clothing for school wear, in some cases it was 
found necessary to provide underclothing, rubbers and overcoats 
which remained the property of the individual children. 

The day nursery on the roof of which the school was held pre- 
sented peculiar advantages as a laboratory for carrying on such an 
experiment. The equipment of the building, which included shower- 
bath and dispensary on the first floor, dining-room and kitchen on 
the third floor, store-room and tent on the roof, toilet rooms on the 




Q 

a 

J 

> 
< 
oi 
H 

o 
z 

< 




40 



Wptn Atr OlruBaJjfra 



first floor and roof and elevator service was given freely to the use 
of the school children. 

The roof, illustrated on the following page, is completely inclosed 
by a high framework covered by wire netting. Against this netting 
young evergreen trees replaced during the winter the vines which 
covered the meshes in the summer months. The trees not only 
served the extremely practical purpose of a good windbreak but lent 
a perpetual air of Christmas festivity to the place which was reflected 
in the joyous faces and merry spirits of the children. When Christ- 
mas Day really came, the little trees were literally used for the pur- 
pose for which Nature had so evidently created them and stood about 
the roof bedecked with the simple gifts which the children had made 
for themselves and for the teacher and covered with the glittering 
crystals of the snow. Germany took her sick children to the pine 
forests to school; Boston put her little patients into classrooms on 
the roof; it remained for Chicago to bring the trees to the children 
and give her pupils a forest school on a city roof. 

Completely encircling the tent which stood among the trees were 
windows which swung out, canopy fashion, making an open zone 
clear around the tent. These windows could be dropped on the side 
from which a storm might come. 

The teacher, the supervisor of the school work, as well as the desks, 
blackboards and all equipment were provided by the Board of 
Education. No heat whatever was furnished in the tent but heated 
soapstones were placed at the feet in extremely cold weather. No 
one seemed to have difficulty at any time in handling pen or pencil 
although the thermometer often went below zero. 

Outside of the inclosed tent was a large shelter tent which con- 
sisted simply of a canvas top, without sides, to protect from rain or 
extreme heat. Here the children took their daily naps, tied up 
snugly in their warm sleeping bags and stretched out full-length 
on canvas cots. The younger children and those who were least well, 
often spent the entire afternoon in rest and no one was urged to come 
into the tent to school if the teacher was convinced that the sleep 
would do him more good. Though the physical development was 
thus apparently put ahead of the mental growth, a glance at the 
record of advancement made by the pupils shows clearly that the 
mind was very far from suffering by such treatment. 

At the other end of the shelter tent stood a long table on which the 
hot lunch was served at nine and three-thirty. A small store-room 
on the roof gave space for the dish-cupboard and gas-stove where the 
lunches could easily be prepared by the cook. On the other side of 
the store-room were lockers for wraps and supplies. 

Store-room, toilet and asbestos tent were already on the roof; the 

41 



Wpm Air (tvixBnhns 




Mary Crane Nursery- CmicactO 

R.OOF Plan 

Pond a. Pond -Architects 



shelter tent was the only addition to be made for the school. The 
Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund which provided for the 
expenses of conducting the school also financed the Infant Welfare 
Work for which these buildings on the roof had been previously 
erected. 

With this equipment the school was carried on from October to 
June. In June, pupils and teacher went for one month to Camp 
Algonquin, the summer camp maintained by the United Charities, 
where the women and children of the poorer districts of the city are 
given two-week outings. The beautiful grounds on the bank of the 
Fox River, the roomy cottages, the immaculate cleanliness of dormi- 
tory and dining-hall, the joys of camp-fires, base-ball, swimming- 
pool, oaks and brook impressed more deeply upon the minds of the 
children the high standards of personal conduct and pleasant home 
life which it had been one special aim of the roof school to inculcate. 
The changes also afforded opportunity to regulate absolutely all the 
conditions affecting the pupils in a way quite impossible in the city, 
where they must return at night to homes which, in spite of the most 
conscientious efforts of .the visiting nurses, sometimes undid, in large 
measure, the good received during the day. 

42 



(ipftt Atr OIntBa&prs 



The results of the year's work speak for themselves. From the 
teacher's standpoint, the children were almost without exception 
below grade. They brought records of slow progress, trouble with 
teachers, irregular attendance. One child had been absent seventy- 
five days of the preceding school year; another was already destined 
for the Parental School, as unmanageable: in the open air school 
the first was absent only six days, five because of the death of a sister, 
and the other completed two grades and became one of the most 
tractable lads among the pupils. It is not logical to ascribe all this 
improvement in conduct and scholarship entirely to the open air 
regime. The largest average attendance in any open air school 
from which reports could be secured was thirty-five, with most schools 
admitting only twenty-five, and some only fifteen. The average 
number of pupils to one teacher in the Chicago public schools is 
forty-one; in many small town schools it runs as high as sixty. 
Granted the same kind of teacher and the same kind of pupils, it 
would not be fair to expect the one with sixty youngsters to accom- 
plish as much with each individual child as could the teacher with 
twenty-five pupils. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind 
that the sixty would be in one or two grades, while the twenty-five 
would range from the first to the eighth grade. In the second place, 
it was not usually the average teacher who was chosen to take 
charge of the open air room. The out-of-the-ordinary in the school 
appealed to the out-of-the-ordinary teacher, the teacher who under 
average conditions would probably be successful in bringing back- 
ward pupils up to grade and adjusting questions of discipline. But 
such teachers are handling average groups of children and Boston's 
investigation showed that only five per cent of the average school 
population need special treatment. Here was a group of children, 
all of whom were sub-normal, and it would take actual demonstration 
to prove that even an out-of-the-ordinary teacher could bring them 
successfully through the year's work under average school conditions. 
The Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School proved that it could be 
done under the special conditions there provided. 

So far as the physical results are concerned, the records show 
temperatures lowered, an average gain in weight of four pounds, 
teeth put in order and kept clean, adenoids removed, a daily bath 
insisted upon, little bodies weakened by disease growing strong and 
vigorous and able to fight back against the handicaps of their in- 
heritance and environment. 

It is a pitiful thing to see a sick child whom no physician's skill 
can cure, but it is a far more pitiful thing to see a sick child doomed 
to linger along through a fretful childhood, a joyless youth and an 
inefficient manhood, when the right care at the right moment might 

43 



(i^j^n Air (UvuBuhnB 



have made him a normal, healthy, useful human being. The Eliza- 
beth McCormick Open Air School made a strong plea for the rights 
of the child handicapped by tuberculosis and in so doing joined the 
ranks of those who plead for the rights of all handicapped children, 
whoever and wherever they may be. But it did more than that. 
It had a very marked influence in bringing about better ventilation 
for the schoolrooms of Chicago, where the children of the city must 
sit five hours a day during the school year. It has succeeded in mak- 
ing ventilation a live issue in the mind of the average parent, instead 
of relegating it to the technical debates of engineers and school 
boards, and the few experts who realize its importance. For edu- 
cating the general public, children are better than charts. 



SCHOOLGRAMS 

S. C. K. 

What shall it profit a child if he gain the whole curriculum and 
lose his health? 

Two things of which there is enough for all — fresh air and sun- 
shine. Get yours. 

The only air available from dark till sunrise is "night air." 
Breathe it. 

Switzerland requires her school children to be in the open air at 
least ten minutes out of every school hour. 

A question that should be asked about the ventilating system of 
every school — Does it ventilate? 

Teach your children to make a childhood friend of the open air. 

The only night air which is injurious is last night's. Open the 
window and let it out. 



44 



i^tailfi of % iHanagf m? ttt 

Type of Child Admitted. — -Diagnostic Points. — Records. — Duties 
OF Physician, Nurse, Matron, Assistant Matron and Cook. 
— Diet List. — Food Values of Two Menus Served. — Daily Pro- 
gram. — Drinking Milk Insisted Upon. — Milk Better than Choco- 
late. — Cold Shower Baths Prove Successful. — Children Learn to 
Sleep during Rest Period. — Cots Better than Steamer Chairs. — 
Gymnastics Limited to Breathing and Marching Exercises. — 
Clothing Planned for Warmth, Light Weight and Activity. — 
During 1910-1911, the School will Experiment with Water- 
proofed Material, Paper-Lined. — ■ Type of Building Best Fitted 
FOR Open Air Work not Yet Determined. 



45 




The Monthly Examination' by the Physician in Charge 




Temperature and Pulse Were Recorded Twice Daily 

46 



The open air school is intended for any child in poor general 
physical condition who is not suffering from open tuberculosis or 
other contagious disease. While it has happened that a large per 
cent of the children who are usually admitted to open air schools are 
positively tubercular, it is not at all intended that the benefits of 
these schools should be given exclusively to that class of children. 
As it was primarily planned, however, that the Elizabeth McCormick 
Open Air School should be used exclusively for tubercular children, 
the following were the principal diagnostic points used in de- 
termining the suitability of the applicants: 

1. Family history. (In our group, 63 per cent of the children had a 
case of positive tuberculosis in their immediate family.) 

2. General type of body and state of nutrition. 

3. Fever. 

4. Cough. 

5. Dullness or breath changes. (Rales. were usually found to indicate 
open tuberculosis.) 

6. Pirquet test. 

7. Absence of tubercular germs in sputum or throat swabbing. 

A great deal of time and effort was used to keep careful and 
complete records during the entire school year. The records con- 
sisted of: 

1. Previous school record. 

(a) Days lost during the previous school year. 

(6) Mental condition. 

(c) Relative standing so far as grade was concerned. 

2. Family physical history. 

3. Present physical condition of child. 

4. Temperature and pulse twice daily. 

5. Weight once a week. 

6. Examination by physician once a month. 

7. Examination by physician on account of any special indication. 

8. Living condition at home with special reference to size of sleeping 
room and amount of light and air. 

To obtain such full information, the duties of the staff made 
each member responsible for a certain portion of the records. 

47 



Wpm Air (truBntnB 



Duties of Physician: 

1. To examine children for admission. 

2. To make monthly examinations and also special examinations as 
indicated. 

3. To supervise records. 

4. To pass on all routine and submit same to consulting staff for 
approval. 

5. To arrange diet. 

Nurse: 

1. To take morning temperature and observe general condition of 
children each day. 

2. To report any case of a rise of temperature of 100° or more or any 
other unusual symptom to the physician. 

3. To inspect the home and advise parents about sleeping rooms, 
food, daily routine, etc. 

Matron: 

1. To have immediate charge of all physical care of the children 
while in the school. 

2. To give baths. 

3. To see that the children are properly clothed. 

4. To plan meals. 

5. To take the afternoon temperature. 
Assistant Matron: 

1. To assist the matron. 

2. To look after washing and cleaning. 

3. To assist the cook. 

Cook: 

To purchase, prepare and serve meals. 

As a general guide in planning the meals, the following sugges- 
tive diet Hst was approved by the consulting staff: 

Breakfast at home: 

I glass of milk. 

Cereal with cream and sugar. 

I or 2 eggs. 

Bread and butter. 
Lunch at school, 9:00 a. m. : 

I glass of milk, cold or hot, and bread; or 

1 bowl of soup and bread. 
Dinner at school: 

2 glasses of milk and bread and butter. 
I bowl of soup. 

Meat, beef or mutton, boiled, roast, stew or hash. (Fish or eggs 
may be substituted.) 

Vegetables — (one) pototoes, peas or beans. (Green vegetable also 
when possible.) 

Dessert. Fruit, raw or stewed; or pudding. 
Lunch at school, 3:30 p. m. : 

I glass milk, bread and butter, and occasionally jam, jelly or molasses. 
Supper at home: 

I glass of milk and bread. 

Meat or eggs. 



HOOD 

AF placed on fold of goods. 

FC straight edge of goods: stitch in flat seam. 

ABC face line, folded back when in use. 

EDC line where hood is attached to collar of suit. 

X tapes to tie hood closely about the face. 




DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING THE ESKIMO^SUITS. 

(By Request.) 

The Eskimo suits are simply double-breasted pajamas cut 
from heavy woolen blankets. The suits are to be worn over 
the other clothing, so large sizes are used and the legs and 
sleeves are shortened to fit the individual. To the collars are 
fastened hoods with tape so placed as to tie snugly about the 
face in severe weather. The outfit is completed by a pair of 
heavy felt boots, the soles covered with material like the suit, 
with a thick interlining of paper. 



49 



INSIDE 

MEAD 



SLEEPING BAG 





o u 


1 






1 


FOOTPItCE 





OUTSIDE 

HEAD 
82 



1 X 



rOOTPItCE 

X X 



X 



Directions for Making Sleeping-Bag. 

(By Request) 

Inside: Shoddy woolen blanket 6o inches by 8o inches. 

Footpiece: i-6 of blanket, added to center of lower line. 

Outside: Dark brown canvas, 28 inches wide, cut in three 
strips, 64 inches, 64 inches and 94 inches, respectively, and 
stitched together as shown in cut. 

Edges of canvas are folded back to cover edges of blanket, 
leaving i inch edge of double canvas. 

Crosses show position of 12 -inch tapes. 

In use, flaps are folded in order as indicated. 



50 



(ipftt Air (^.rttBuhtvB 



It is intended that each child should drink at least three pints of 
milk a day. Where the home conditions are such that milk for break- 
fast and supper cannot be provided, a charity organization is asked 
to supply the milk for them. Children who are not in the habit of 
drinking milk frequently object, but no child has been found who 
did not learn to like milk, after being persuaded to drink it for a 
few days. 

At first children were given cocoa or chocolate in place of milk 
at some of the lunches if they desired it, but it was found that the 
children whom we permitted to drink chocolate would also drink 
tea and coffee at home, which is considered objectionable. 

A general rule that faces and hands be always washed before 
dinner and lunch is carefully enforced. 

The food values of two menus actually served are appended. 



SAMPLE MENU, SERVED MARCH 22, 1910. 



HAMBURGER MEAT CAKES. 



BROWN GRAVY. 



HASHED BROWN POTATOES. 



BREAD. BUTTERINE. 



GINGERBREAD. 



Quantities Cost Calories 

8 pounds meat at 12I2 cents i.oo 5280 

^ pounds vegetables .03 180 

}4 pound bread .02 608 

J^ pound fat .03 450 

15 pounds potatoes .15 4650 

12 pounds spinach .90 1320 

3 pounds gingerbread .26 45°° 

10 pounds bread at 3 cents .30 12150 

yi pound jelly at 15 cents .08 645 

35 quarts milk at 7 cents 2.45 22750 

I pound butterine .20 3600 

Total 5.40 56133 

Number of children served 32 

Teacher, matron and attendants S • 

Cost per individual 14.6 cents 

51 



(ip^tt Atr (EruBa^prs 



SAMPLE MENU, SERVED MARCH 21, 1910. 

BEEF STEW WITH VEGETABLES. 

BISCUIT BREAD. 

BUTTERINE. MILK. 

APRICOT TAPIOCA. 

Quantities Cost Calories 

8 pounds beef-shoulder at 12I4 cents .... i.oo Si^So 

Yi, pound butterine at 20 cents .05 900 

5 pounds vegetables for stew .15 200 

16 j^ pounds potatoes .17 4,960 

3 pints flour . .09 4.950 

\% ounces baking powder -03 

Y^ pound butterine .03 450 

1 cup milk .02 80 

2 pounds dried apricots at 12J-2 cents .... .25 780 
I ^ pounds tapioca at 9 cents .12 2,475 

4 cups sugar at 5V2 cents .11 3,720 

10 pounds. bread at 3 cents .30 12,150 

% pound butterine at 20 cents .15 2,550 

31 quarts milk at 7 cents 2.17 20,150 

Total 4.64 58,615 

Number of children served . . . .' 28 

Teacher, matron, attendants 5 

Cost per individual 14 cents 

The older children were permitted to help in setting the table 
for dinner and all in rotation assisted in waiting on table. The 
teacher and the matron presided and before the year was over, the 
table manners of the children showed remarkable improvement. 

Every child is given a cold bath every morning. The bath 
usually lasts about ten seconds, after which the child is given a vigor- 
ous rub with a Turkish towel. As a usual thing, the children object 
to the baths at first, but in a very few days learn to like it and strange 
as it may seem, object to going without it. At the beginning of 
last year a general order was issued that in case it was found that a 
child did not react properly after a cold bath, the baths for this child 
were to be discontinued. There was not a single child, however, of 
the entire forty-nine, for whom it was necessary to discontinue the 
baths. Cold tub bathing is an entirely different proposition from a 
cold shower and is probably not suitable for the type of child who 
attends the open air school. 

52 




H 




Contrast the Cramped Position in the Steamer Chair with the 




Complete Relaxation Possible on the Cots 
54 



(§pm Air Qlrusabera 



As there was no heat whatever in the outdoor school, it was 
necessary carefully to plan the clothing for the chilidren. The 
three principal things considered were: 

1. Sufficient protection. 

2. Not too great weight. 

3. Construction of clothing so as to permit activity. 

An Eskimo suit made of heavy wool blanket seemed to answer 
the requirements. This suit, supplemented by a pair of farmer's 
felt boots and fleece-lined gauntlet gloves kept the children warm in 
the severest weather. The construction of the garments seemed to 
permit sufficient activity but there is room for improvement in the 
matter of weight. Garments constructed of a light woolen water- 
proofed material supplemented by paper lining may perhaps serve 
the purpose better than the woolen blanket. It is our plan for the 
year of 1910-1911 to experiment with various materials in order to 
find something which is light and durable and at the same time water- 
proof and a good non-conductor. 

While resting, each child is provided with a double wool blanket 
and the additional protection of a sleeping-bag, made after the 
conventional pattern only of a smaller size. These bags are made of 
canvas, lined with rather heavy cotton blanket. Our new sleeping- 
bags may be made of paraffined canvas lined with paper and farmer's 
satin. 

Great care is exercised to see that the children are made com- 
fortable and as far as possible taught to go to sleep during the rest 
period. A new child for the first two or three days seldom sleeps, but 
the comfort and quiet soon develop the habit and taking an hour's 
nap soon comes as natural as eating lunch. 

It was found that the ordinary steamer chair which has been used 
in so many outdoor schools and sanitoria was neither suitable for 
studying nor was it very comfortable to sleep in. So after trying the 
folding chair for a time, we changed to the regular school desk for the 
school room work and to folding canvas cots on which the children 
reclined for the rest period. 

The play of the children is restricted as little as possible and when 
there is restriction it applies only to special children. 

The gymnastics are limited to breathing and marching exercises. 

Any child who at the morning inspection by the nurse is found to 
have a temperature of 100 or over, is kept lying down the entire day 
except at meal time. 

Exclusion on account of any symptom of contagious disease 
is the same as in the regular public school. 

The special building which is best fitted for open air work has not 
yet been determined. While regular school rooms have been arranged 

55 



(§)fi2n Air (EruHai^rs 



to meet the requirements for fresh air, a specially planned building 
would probably be more desirable. Any sort of structure, however, 
which permitted the admission of sufficient fresh air to make the con- 
dition practically the same as that outside would answer the purpose. 



THE DAILY PROGRAM 

Rise . 7 :oo 

Breakfast at home 7:15 to 7:45 

Arrive at school . . S :oo 

Temperature taken and inspection by nurse S:oo to 8:30 

Bath and lunch 8:30 to 9:00 

In school 9:00 to 10:15 

Recess 10:15 to 10:30 

In school 10:30 to 11:45 

Get ready for dinner . . . . . . . 11:45 to 12:00 

Dinner 12:00 to 12:45 

Section i : 

Rest 1:00 to 2:15 

In school 2:15 to 3:15 

Section 2 : 

In school 1:00 to 2:15 

Attest 2:15 to 3:15 

Play or gymnastics, 

Temperature and lunch 3:15 to 4:00 

Return home 4 :oo 

Supper at home 6:30 

To bed 8 :oo 



56 



BtutX&tUB 



General Financial Statement. — Cost of Equipment for One Child. 

— Aggregate Pounds below Normal. — Total Aggregate Gain. 

— Birthplace of Parents. — Ages of Children. — Grades Repre- 
sented. — - Family History. 



§>lattsttrB 



FINANCL\L STATEMENT 

Clothing $ 125.99 

Blankets 339-02 

Cots and chairs 68.13 

Lumber 74-93 

16 glazed sashes in dormitory 74.00 

8 sashes in dormitory 37-°° 

Reversing doors 12.00 

Dishes 33-27 

Desk 10.00 

Gas, light, elevator service 225.00 

Provisions 1,270.00 

Relief (rubbers, overcoats, etc.) . . 49-72 

Medicine 26.52 

Pictures •. . . . 15 -lo 

Postage and carfare 11. i 

Salaries of Attendants 753-=^ 

Miscellaneous (small equipment) 147 - 7 

Total $3,273.16 



MS 


























r 
















/ 










7 


























& 


























s 














^ 


\ 


















/ 




/ 




N 




































% 




// 


^ 




















1 




y 























Xc^-C, 7 f 7 /^ // /i- /J /y /£■ 'L 

_ Htf-V>-M.fl ■?- 

Grade of the Open Air School Pupils Compared with Normal Pupils 

59 



Wpm Air Qlruaab^rs 



COST OF MAINTENANCE 

(Based on an Actual Cost of Handling an Average Attendance of Thirty-five Children.) 

Staff: 

Teacher, furnished by School Board 
Nurse, furnished by Tuberculosis Institute 
Physician, furnished by Nursery 

Matron $50.00 per month 

Assistant Matron 30.00 per month 

Cook . . . ; 30.00 per month 

Food (Cost per child) : 

Raw material . . . ... . $0.09 per day or $1 . 80 per month 

Milk .07 per day or 1.40 per month 

Gas .01 per day or .20 per month 

Total .17 $3.40 

Special Equipment for Each Child: 

Eskimo suit $'3-5° 

I double wool blanket 6.50 

Canvas folding cot (special, 28 x 66 in.) . . . . . . i-75 

Sleeping bag (canvas-lined, with cheap blanket) .... 2.00 

Felt boots .60 

Gauntlet gloves, fleece-lined .35 

Thermometer . .25 

Tooth brush .10 

Paper napkins .10 

Record sheets .10 

Towels . 1 . 00 

Laundry .50 

Miscellaneous disinfectants . .25 

Total $17.00 

AGGREGATE NUMBER OF POUNDS BELOW NORMAL OF 
49 CHILDREN 

Number of Average Pounds Aggregate Pounds 

Age Children Below Normal Below Normal 

6 2 8 16 

8 2 II 22 

9 4 6 24 

xo 8 3 24 

II . 6 7 42 

12 . . 10 15 150 

13 12 16 192 

14 ■ ■ 2 37 74 

15 I 9 9 

16 I 21 21 

17 I 35 35 

Total 49 168 609 

609 pounds is equivalent to the aggregate weight of thirteen normal 
six-year-old children, or nine normal ten-year-old children. Total aggre- 
gate gain for 49 children, 178 pounds, or the equivalent of four normal 
six-year-old children. Greatest gain, 14 pounds in 17 weeks. Total 
aggregate number of days' care, 4,911. 

60 



Wpm Alt (txnmhiVB 



DIAGRAM SHOWING WEIGHT OF CHILDREN 
COMPARED WITH THE NORMAL 























1 


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^, 
























j 




















































1 








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■■■■''/ 
























/ 
























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61 



(ipptt Air (Eruaa&prs 



BIRTHPLACE OF PARENTS 

England i 

France i 

Poland 2 

Bohemia 3 

Roumania 3 

Italy 3 

Germany 4 

United States 5 or 10.2% 

Russia 10 or 20.4% 

Ireland 17 or 34.7% 



Ages of Children 



9 
10 



13 
14 
15 
16 

17 



6 
10 
12 



Grades Represented 



3 

4 

5 ....... 

6 

7 

8 

Special 3 



3 
7 
4 
12 
II 
5 
3 



49 



49 



FAMILY HISTORY 

Negative . 18 

Father died from Tuberculosis 12 

Mother has Tuberculosis 7 

Father has Tuberculosis 7 

Sister died from Tuberculosis 3 

Brother has Tuberculosis 2 



Positive cases of tuberculosis in immediate family, 31, or 63 . 2%. 



49 



62 



From the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, Dr. Henry B. Favill, Dr. 
Theodore B. Sachs. — From the Municipal Sanitarium, Supt. Frank 
E. Wing. — From the Chicago Medical Society, Dr. John A. Robison. 
— From the Chicago Press, Chicago American, Daily News, Even- 
ing Post, Examiner, Inter-Ocean, Journal, Record-Herald, Tribune. 



63 



Olommfttt KraixBth bg tlt^ §>rljnnl 



FROM THE CHICAGO TUBERCULOSIS INSTITUTE 

The time is approaching when a school curriculum which has not 
hygiene as its central thought will be in discredit. As usual this 
point is likely to be reached by dealing with exceptional and perplex- 
ing school conditions. The out-of-door school for tubercular chil- 
dren has been life-saving and a benediction to those children. It has 
been far more. It has shown the feasibility of giving every child 
what is its natiural right, namely, an education under conditions 
which foster rather than stifle his physical perfection. Such demon- 
strations are inexpressibly valuable. They cannot be measured by 
money. No one can foretell the wave of influence which spreads 
from such a center, 

Henry B. Favill, M. D., 
President Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. 



We are in the midst of a gradual change of conception of our duty 
to the school child. 

Schooling, under conditions impairing health, renders assimilation 
of knowledge difficult, at times impossible; hence the agitation for 
pure air in school rooms, a medical inspection service, a proper 
adjustment of hours of study and recreation, and a curriculum 
adapted to requirements and capacity of the growing child. 

The large army of school children cannot be handled as a homo- 
geneous mass. Experience points to the differentiation of school 
methods with various groups of children as the only effective policy, 
productive of desired results. The application of one system to all 
spells injury to many, while a modified policy, with special provision 
for physical well-being, renders the weak strong and makes assim- 
ilation of knowledge possible where otherwise progress is slow or nil. 

The efficacy of such modified, properly adapted school methods 
is best exemplified in the modem treatment of the tuberculous 
school child. Where progress was impossible under the old condi- 
tions, the schooling in the open air, combined with the provision of a 
liberal diet and a proper adjustment of the hours of rest and study, 
restores health in a large number of cases and brings many a lagging 
child up to the average standard. The Outdoor School conducted by 

65 



©prn Air (Erxtsabers 



the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute in the summer of igog, the 
EHzabeth McCormick Open Air School, carried through last winter 
by the United Charities and the Board of Education on the roof of 
the Mary Crane Nursery, as well as the open window room for 
normal school children in the Graham School, have demonstrated 
effectively the need of differentiation of methods in dealing with 
various groups of children. 

The health of the school child is being rapidly recognized by 
school authorities as an important asset and the old policy of one 
method for all is rapidly passing into oblivion. 

Theodore B. Sachs. 
Head of Sanitarium Department, Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. 

FROM THE MUNICIPAL SANITARIUM 

Some day the city will be judged a success or a failure by what 
it has been able to accomplish for those little ones who never had 
a chance. The Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School took thirty- 
five such children from their poorly ventilated school rooms and their 
more poorly regulated homes, and with them demonstrated the 
practicability of the Open Air School regime as an all the year round 
possibility. 

I know of no more convincing argument than that expressed in the 
report of the school physician and the teacher, showing : 

Improved physical condition, 

An average of four pounds gained in weight per child. 

Two grades made where formerly advance was unhoped-for. 

Mental dullness and stupidity replaced by alertness and desire 
to learn. 

In fact they have been living in a new world and it has given them 
their first fighting chance. Frank E. Wing, 

Superintendent of the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium 
and of the Tuberculosis Institute. 

FROM THE CHICAGO MEDICAL SOCIETY 

I was delighted when I examined the pupils of the Outdoor School 
at Algonquin a few days ago and noted the improved physical con- 
dition of the children, their improved nutrition and their bright 
mentality. The records of the work done in the Elizabeth McCor- 
mick Open Air School during the past few months is an irrefutable 
argument in favor of the Board of Education extending this work, 
and including types of children who are not tuberculous, but suffer 
from some form of physical ailment which interferes with their 
harmonious physical and mental development. 

66 



Wn^tn Air Olrusabrrs 



The city during school hours voluntarily assumes the function of 
parent, and it is its duty to place all its charges under the most 
sanitary and hygienic conditions, and look after their physical wel- 
fare as well as mental training. To my mind there is no factor of so 
great importance in the training of school children as giving them an 
abundance of God's fresh air. The most difficult architectural 
problem of all ages since man began to live in houses, and a problem 
which has never been satisfactorily solved, is ventilation. The best 
system is Nature's, the outdoor system. Let the public schools of 
the future be erected with the idea of utilizing the roof spaces for 
outdoor schools, and let the children, non-tuberculous as well as 
tuberculous, be taught there. 

An educated intellect in a weak body is a waste of effort both as 
far as the individual and the commonwealth is concerned: the 
flower of the intellect withers and the world loses the fruit of a bril- 
liant mind. Instead of concentrating our efforts on the training of 
the intellect, let us develop its seat in a strong, vigorous body, free 
from disease, and the world will be the gainer. 

John A. Robison, 
President Chicago Medical Society. 



FROM THE CHICAGO PRESS 

The question of open air schools received the attention of Mrs. 
Ella Flagg Young, superintendent of schools, to-day. 

She visited the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air Roof School Room 
and held a committee meeting there. 

Physicians on the staff of the Mary Crane Nursery are enthusiastic 
over the results of the open air scheme. The pupils themselves 
resent any motion of their being deprived of their "out-of-doors" 
school. — American for December 13, 1910. 



Mrs. Ella Flagg Young, superintendent of schools, visited the 
"school on a roof" at the Mary Crane Nursery to-day and after 
investigating the "school room" with its walls of woven wire and 
after hearing recitations and talking with the teacher, she heartily 
set the stamp of her approval upon the open air method of treating 
tubercular children. 

A conference of well-known physicians and others interested in 
the experiment followed Mrs. Young's visit. It is thought that 
"schools on roofs" may be opened on various school buildings 
throughout the city. — Daily News for December 13, 19 10. 

67 



(§\im Air (BxusahnB 



We have sometimes wondered if there was any exercise of the 
mind more purely speculative than the attempts to work out mechan- 
ical systems of ventilation. Given a hall or a public building, the 
problem is to trace a steady stream of graceful flowing arrows from 
the outside air through the place, including all the nooks and cor- 
ners, and out again. 

The more graceful and enterprising the arrows, the better the 
system. A really good diagrammatic arrow has imagination, in- 
dignation, a sense of duty. It gets inside the room or hall, and looks 
around and sees a lot of lowering carbon dioxide in a corner and 
sweeps straight at it. "Out with you," says the ventilating arrow. 
"These precincts are mine." And straightway it prods the villainous 
carbon dioxide into a ventilating shaft and cleans and sweetens the 
room. 

Every architect has his quiver full of these arrows, but very few 
of his clients ever succeed in getting a glimpse of them. Some- 
times, it may be, it is their own fault. They don't meet the architect 
and his arrows halfway. They complain of drafts down the back of 
their necks or around their feet. And in the case of most public 
halls and school rooms the carbon dioxide gets so heavy and inert 
that it takes complete possession of the place and the fresh air arrows 
scarcely get a peep within. 

The public schools have long been the victim of the mechanical 
ventilating system. It may be true, as a contemporary has suggested, 
that the popular feature of the system with former boards of educa- 
tion was the saving of coal which it made possible. But its popularity 
was also due to ignorance, the ignorance of parents as well as of the 
board. It has taken years of "fresh air" preaching to teach parents 
that the open window is really the foe of pneumonia. 

The meeting of the board of education last night at which physi- 
cians and others discussed the remarkable records made in a year of 
experiment in certain schools will lead, we hope, to a relaxation of 
the old closed- window rules, and every school ought to have its open- 
window room where those who need the hygiene of fresh air and 
whose parents approve may grow rosy-cheeked and sparkling. 

The Evening Post for October 22, 1910. 

So pleased was Superintendent Ella Young with what she saw 
yesterday at the "school on the roof" of the Mary Crane Nursery, 
818 Ewing Street, that she hopes to make similar schools a regular 
feature of the public educational system of Chicago and thereby 
combat, perhaps overcome, tuberculosis among children. 

Mrs. Young was accompanied to the "school on the roof" by 
several physicians. She went to investigate reports that the chil- 

68 



l|0m tl|0 Papers If^lp^b 



1)11 l.in .l"l- 



->u"":;;\,r^"^" 



'*55' 







A FEW OF OUR Press Clippings 



70 



(§^m Air (UrnBnhnB 



dren were suffering from the cold. She found the reports unfounded. 
The children, all of them either with tubercular tendencies or 
suffering from throat troubles of a less serious nature, but sufficient 
to affect their general health and retard their school progress, were 
enthusiastic over the open air school and opposed to returning to 
closed and heated rooms. — Examiner for December 14, 1909. 



Not only fresh air but cold air in every school in Chicago is now 
the cry by both Superintendent Ella Flagg Young and the health 
department. 

Following the recent publicity given the open air school main- 
tained on the roof of the Mary Crane Nursery and the "fresh 
air class" being tried out at the Graham School, Mrs. Young has 
announced that school rooms are at present too warm. 

Sixty-eight or seventy degrees is too warm, not only for study 
and clear thinking, but for health, she declares. 

Enthusiastic endorsement of the fresh air idea by all was the 
result of the trip. It has been proposed that at least one room in 
every school building in the city be used as a "cold storage plant" 
class room. Later more will be added. — Inter Ocean for December 
14, 1909. 



Experiments at the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School and 
Graham School have established the desirability of a considerably 
increased allowance of fresh air in school rooms. 

Prevalence of catarrh and throat troubles among city dwellers is 
largely due to foul air superheated and dried by steam radiators; 
therefore there is not the least need for surprise that children suffering 
from these affections should have improved rapidly under the fresh 
air treatment. 

Where fifty or sixty children are crowded into one room the air 
very quickly becomes poisonous, they become listless because the 
impure air does not supply sufficient oxygen to purify their blood and 
they suffer bodily and mentally. 

The Journal is glad to know that the value of fresh air as a builder 
of health and a curative agent is to be officially recognized by strict 
regulation of ventilation and temperature in the Chicago schools. 

The children will benefit enormously. The parents will profit 
by the fresh air principles which the children will introduce into their 
homes. 

And the reduction in tuberculosis within a few years will be 
astonishing. — Journal for December 14, 1909. 

71 



(^ptn Air Crusab^ra 



How many children, real, live American "kids," do you know who 
wouldn't take a vacation from school when they could have it? 

Not many, probably. The story of thirty children who liked 
school so well that they made the teacher keep it open during Christ- 
mas week last year when all the other "kids" in Chicago were enjoy- 
ing a week's respite from study, is told in an attractive little pamphlet 
that thousands of Chicagoans will receive to-day, detailing the work 
of the United Charities of Chicago for the past year. 

The school is one of the winter activities of the United Charities 
and is on the roof of the Mary Crane Nursery, near Hull House. 
It cares for children who are inclined to tuberculosis. — Record- 
Herald for June 24, 19 10. 



There are not two sides to the question raised in our school 
management: Shall the school room be ventilated in accordance 
with modern sanitary principles? 

No one who has gone to school will forget the neglect of ventila- 
tion. No intelligent person will doubt the evil effects of bad air. 

Disease is one of the effects, and the worst. But it is not the only 
effect. Bes'de acute diseases and contagion, and the slow under- 
mining of the child's strength, is the loss of his mental efficiency. 

No child poisoned with bad air can learn rapidly or well. 

In the saving of life and health, and in the increase of educational 
results, proper ventilation is a measure of common humanity and 
immediate practical economy. 

No time should be lost in bringing about this betterment. 

Tribune for October 23, 19 10. 



72 



Olijirago B IFtrBt (§pm Air ^dpsti 

Dr. Kohn, of Board of Education, Plans School for Debilitated 
Children. — Chicago Tuberculosis Institute Plans School for 
Tuberculous Children. — Co-operation of Board of Education 
Secured. — School Opened August Third. — Daily Program. — 
Diet Difficulties Suggest Need of Home Instruction. — The 
Toothbrush Drill. — The Rest Period. — Physical Condition of 
Children Admitted. — Results of First Year's Work. — Second 
Summer Sees Three Schools Started. — Chicago Public School 
Extension Committee Provides Food and Extra Equipment. — 
Fourteen Nationalities Represented. — Results. — 4,700 Tuber- 
culous Children in Chicago Need Open Air Schooling. — City 
Should Provide for Them. 



73 




The Tuberculosis Institute Held its Schools in Tents 
Erected in School Yards 




A Class in Basketry — Summer of 1910 



74 



(!lI|irago*s iFtrat Wptn Air i'riiofll 



Chicago's first outdoor school for tuberculous children was made 
possible through the joint co-operation of the Board of Education and 
the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. The part taken by the Board 
of Education was largely the result of the active interest of Dr. 
Alfred Kohn, who, prior to the arrangement with the Tuberculosis 
Institute, had presented to the Board of Education a plan for a 
similar school for debilitated children, not necessarily tuberculous, 
to be modeled somewhat after the Charlottenburg School in Germany 
near Berlin. Provision for the feeding of the children, however, not 
being forthcoming, it became necessary to give up the school as orig- 
inally planned. Prior to the announcement of these plans, the 
Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, which at the beginning of the year 
had advocated an Outdoor School as one of its possible summer 
activities, was in the field for a location on which to establish some form 
of outdoor provision for a group of tuberculous children ; either a day 
and night camp in the country, or a day camp inside the city limits. 

The plan of Dr. Kohn seemed to present the desired opportunity; 
consequently the Tuberculosis Institute offered to co-operate with 
the Board of Education in the maintenance of such a school. The 
offer was accepted, and after some necessary delay the school was 
opened on the grounds of the Harvard School at 75th Street and 
Vincennes Road on Tuesday morning, August 3, 1909. 

According to the arrangement, the school building, grounds, 
equipment, and teaching staff were furnished by the School Board, 
while the selection of the children, food supply, transportation, cook, 
nurse and medical service were assumed by the Tuberculosis Institute. 
A large shelter tent and thirty reclining chairs were secured for out- 
door use; and a range, cooking utensils, dishes, knives, forks and 
spoons, kitchen and dining tables and ice box were installed in the 
basement of the school building. The large assembly hall, piano, 
toilets and shower baths were also placed at the disposal of the 
pupils. Mr. William E. Watt, principal of the Graham School, 
was secured as principal of the out-door school and he was assisted 
by two teachers also supplied by the Board of Education. 

The Tuberculosis Institute placed one of its nurses on half-time 
attendance at the school to watch the temperatures, weight, pulse, 
and general condition of the pupils. Careful follow-up work into the 

75 



(§pm Air (UrnmhtVB 



homes of the children made it possible to secure the co-operation 
of the parents to the fullest degree in order to prevent the undoing 
in the home at night of whatever gains the children might make at the 
school during the day. 

While it was called an "Outdoor School," the greater part of the 
daily program was devoted to what might be called vacation rather 
than school activities, with a generous allowance of rest and sleep. 
In order to give the children the benefit of as long a day as possible 
they were at first allowed to come as early as they chose. On the 
second morning one boy was there at six o'clock, and many more 
before seven-thirty; but by the time a working schedule had been 
adopted it was found that eight-thirty was as early as the majority 
of children could get there and that hour was therefore settled on as 
the time for arrival. 

On reaching the school, the children's first duty was to give their 
faces and hands a thorough washing. Breakfast was served at nine 
o'clock in the school basement. This consisted of a well-cooked 
cereal or shredded wheat, eggs in some form, bread, butter, milk, 
and often some kind of fruit. At first liberal amounts of cream were 
given with the breakfast food, but experience soon showed that too 
much cream was unpopular. It was a new article of diet. The 
children did not like it and in this as well as in other articles of diet 
it was found that the simple foods, well-cooked and nutritious, such 
as had come under their home range of experience were more accept- 
able than a more fastidiously worked out bill of fare. As one of the 
visitors to the school remarked: "Give them corn beef and cabbage 
and they will fall to with a relish; but chicken croquettes and com- 
bination salad are quite beyond their powers of comprehension." 
It is the almost universal experience of the visiting nurses that the 
children from the type of home represented in the outdoor school 
as conducted in Chicago are fed on a limited diet of bread, coffee, 
potatoes, fried meats and cheap delicatessen products. Certain 
nationalities have a leaning toward dried fish, macaroni, canned 
tomatoes and corn, and hard boiled eggs, but almost invariably they 
refuse cooked cereals, especially rice, vegetables other than those 
mentioned, soup, unless of the coarsest variety, and numerous dishes 
common in the average American home. Classes in domestic science 
and food values, as well as in deep breathing and air values would 
do much to help this state of affairs, for mal-nutrition is frequently 
the forerunner of tuberculosis in children. 

Each child was provided with a good toothbrush and was taught 
how to use it. A row of hooks with the names pasted above gave each 
youngster a sense of proprietorship and it was interesting to watch 
the pride and importance which, three times a day, attended the 

76 



(§ptn Air Qlrusabrra 



performance of this seemingly trivial duty. At the close of the 
experiment the children were presented with their toothbrushes as 
a reward of merit. 

The first half of the morning was devoted to whatever purely 
class work was done for the day. The children repaired to the tent 




The Toothbrush Drill 



outside and after establishing themselves in their reclining chairs, 
spent an hour and a quarter in singing, story- telling, listening to 
talks on nature, national history, patriotic biography, morals and 
manners, or in reading, geography, number work or some other 
kindred employment, the program being varied from day to day 

At ten-forty-five a forenoon refreshment of milk or egg-nog was 
served. At first raw eggs were tried, but after one boy exploded 
with: "Aw, I know what that is. I've had lots of that at home. It 
ain't no good," thereby nearly precipitating a revolt, various devices 
were practiced to disguise the taste of the egg, with good results. 

At eleven o'clock the children were divided into two groups, the 
girls going to the shower baths and the boys taken singly or in small 
groups for reading, individual instruction in subjects in which they 
were behind, or for gardening, raffia work and other forms of employ- 
ment. 

77 



(§pm Air (Eruaaliprs 



The hour between eleven-thirty and dinner time was spent by all 
in such exercises as light gymnastic dancing, singing, breathing, 
marching and dramatizing. Dinner was made the heavy meal of 
the day, usually consisting of meat or fish, potato, and one other 
vegetable, followed by pudding, fruits, cookies or some other sweets. 

Then followed a two-hour rest period in the reclining chairs — 
a period of complete relaxation and, as far as possible, a period of 
sleep. At first many of the children were unable to sleep, but in a 
few days a remarkable change had been accomplished. One boy who 
had been restless and fidgety for the whole period during the first 
two days, slept a little on the third day, and on the fourth was sleep- 
ing so soundly that his chair was picked up bodily and moved from 
the sun into the shade without awakening him. Many #ere able to 
sleep for the entire two hours, while all enjoyed a considerable period 
of sleep. 

Then at three o'clock came the mid-afternoon refreshment of 
milk or egg-nog, followed by a fifteen-minute period of repose pre- 
paratory to the taking of temperatures, pulse, etc., by the nurse, who 
also watched carefully other matters relating to the physical condi- 
tion, reporting irregularities to the doctor whenever necessary. 

The hour from four to five was a reversal of the late morning hour, 
during which the boys were sent to the shower baths and the girls 
engaged in construction work and in individual instruction. At 
five o'clock supper was served, consisting of bread and butter, 
scrambled eggs, or some other proteid-containing food, custards or 
stewed fruit. At five-thirty all assembled in front of the school 
building, car-tickets for use the next day were distributed, good 
nights were said, and all took the car together under the care of 
the nurse. 

Of the thirty children chosen for the experiment, seventeen were 
first-stage cases of tuberculosis, two had tubercular glands, and eleven 
were pronounced pre-tubercular. Sixteen had been and ten were 
still directly exposed to tuberculosis in their homes, while in the case 
of the other fourteen there was no evidence of direct exposure. None 
had passed to the ''open," infectious stage, all such cases being ex- 
cluded, but two-thirds of them showed a temperature ranging from 
99 to I00.2 on admission. 

On discharge, only two showed a temperature above 99, while the 
rest were practically normal. The total gain in weight for the 
thirty children was 113 pounds, the range being from one to seven 
pounds. Twenty-two gained three pounds or more each, while the 
average gain was 3.8 pounds. One little girl whose life had been a 
burden because of tuberculous cervical glands, and who, although 
thirteen years old, was only in the fourth grade, joyfully reported 

78 



(§pn\ Air Olruaab^ra 



in June, igio, that she had made two grades and that her neck had 
hardly bothered her at alh Her mother had brought her to the school 
when the papers announced its opening in 1909, and when the Insti- 
tute nurse later visited the child's home, she found clean rooms and 
plenty of good simple food, but no fresh air. A cot was taken from 
the stuffy little bedroom and placed on the porch; milk was sub- 
stituted for the tea and coffee , and school and home worked together 
to give this child a new start. She has profited by it to a surprising 
extent, although she still weighs twenty-nine pounds less than the 
normal girl at her age. Her brother died of tuberculosis. 

So gratifying were the results of the one month of the school, 
followed as it was during the winter by the work of the Elizabeth 
McCormick Open Air School and the Graham School, that in the 
summer of 19 10 the Chicago Public School Extension Committee, 
which is formed of representatives from ninety women's clubs in 
Cook County, united with the Board of Education and the Tuber- 
culosis Institute in opening at the Lake View, William Penn and 
Libby schools, three schools similar to the one of the preceding 
summer. The general management and routine were the same, 
except that the Chicago Public School Extension Committee, under 
the able chairmanship of Mrs. A. W. Bryant, met all expenses of food 
and extra equipment for the 19 10 schools and also employed a 
trained dietitian to supervise the meals. 

The one hundred children in attendance, representing fifty-two 
schools, public and parochial, made a net increase of 230 pounds 
in weight, an average of 3.5 pounds, and fourteen nationalities, 
American, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Russian, Belgian, 
Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Bohemian, Canadian, French, and 
English, bore the gospel of fresh air into every part of Chicago. 

However, the children came largely from the poorer sections of 
the city. One boy came from a little six-room cottage which his 
father was trying to buy, although it was not much more than a roof, 
set on badly constructed walls. The father was a laborer, in the 
incipient stage of tuberculosis. There were eight children, the old- 
est a wayward boy of fifteen. Given an income of $13.00, a family 
of ten with two cases of tuberculosis in it and a home to pay for, 
what will be the results for the seven younger children if the school 
does not come to the rescue? 

What will be the results for all the other children in the city who 
need a care which their parents cannot give, if the school does not 
come to the rescue? Applying the percentage of tubercular infection 
which Stockholm, Sweden, found in children under fifteen, there are 
4,700 tuberculous children in Chicago. Boston found nearly five 
per cent of her children of school age in an anaemic or weakened 

79 



(3pm Air (ExviBtxhnB 



condition which predisposed them to disease and made them proper 
candidates for open air schooHng. This would mean 14,600 such 
children in Chicago and would necessitate at least eighty-five or a 
hundred open air schools. Expensive? Yes, but economy in the 



NOT THE 
SCHOOL CHILD 




BUT A SCHOOL 
CONDITION 



In the Balance 

end. A state which spends every year $1,187,000 in educating 
children who die of tuberculosis before reaching their twentieth year 
can well pause to consider the money value of preventive work. A 
city must look to the well-being of her future citizens. No private 
organization, supported by private funds, can hope to do more than 
point out the way in which the city must follow if these children 
are to be given their fighting chance. 



80 



Two Open Window Rooms for Normal Pupils in September, 1909. — 
Seven Rooms by June. — Twenty Rooms in 1910. — Cold Air 
Rooms Demand More Frequent Exercise. — Children Retain 
Ordinary Wraps. — Warming Rooms Provided Seldom Used. — 
Temperature for 1910 between 50° and 60°. — Cold Air Reduces 
Discipline by Removing Physical Causes for Misconduct. — Cold 
Air Better for Eyes. — Writing Period not Hindered by Cold. — ■ 
Need of Humidifying Air not Realized. — How the Graham 
School Humidifies. — Saving in Coal Bill. — How the Graham 
School Makes Its Recess Periods Valuable. — Getting Tired 
Physically in the Open Air Makes Children Strong. — Fresh Air 
Doubles Powers of Teachers and Pupils. 



81 




Open Windows in January 




Fresh Air Fiends of the Graham School 
82 



OII|tra00'H (§ptn Mtn^oui ^rl^nol 



In September, 1909, two rooms were opened in the Graham School 
to show what natural cold air will do for normal pupils. No selection 
of individuals was made except that as children entered the school 
for their first year's work they were given their choice of entering a 
cold room or a warm one. Of course some pains were taken to inform 
the parents in advance as to what it was expected the cold air would 
do. After several weeks of trial in which zero weather was encoun- 
tered and no bad effects followed, teachers, parents and pupils, seeing 
what had been done for those in the two rooms, asked for rooms in 
the other grades for the same sort of work. The school year closed 
with seven open rooms. 

So satisfactory was the work that the school opened in September, 
1 9 10, with twenty cold rooms, merely retaining enough of the warm 
air rooms to insure a place in a warm room in every grade for j upils 
whose parents desired them to have it and also a place for teachers 
to work in warm air in case some of them feared that work in a cold 
room might prove too strenuous. The Board of Education also con- 
structed two canvas-sided rooms on a roof of the Graham School to 
give the matter a more definite trial and to gather the results of the 
work of normal pupils in open air. The rooms may be duplicated 
anywhere for six hundred dollars each. They were completed too 
late in the spring for any tests to be made in them. 

The work in a cold room differs from that in a warm room. The 
pupils are exercised far more frequently and in the low grades the 
seats are removed so as to provide wide floor space for games and 
dancing. Common wooden chairs or kindergarten chairs take the 
place of seats and long tables of simple construction replace the old 
form of rigid desks. The children sit in the school room clad in the 
clothing which protects them on the way to school. They keep all 
that clothing on, if they choose, or lay aside their caps, mittens, 
overshoes and coats if they feel uncomfortable with them on. Dur- 
ing the year no money was paid out for any sort of clothing to protect 
the children from cold, as it was found that whatever clothing would 
bring them safely to school was more than enough for protection in 
the school where games were frequent. In one instance when the 
weather outside was about zero, the principal went into a room to 
see whether he could find any children who ought to be given warmer 

83 



(§p^n Atr OlruBa&fra 



quarters. He found six boys with their overcoats off. As he ap- 
proached them without saying anything about his intentions, he 
was met by the stout assertion of one of them who had read his mind : 
"No, Mr. Watt, we don't want 'em. We're not cold." 

Of course the weather outside is much rougher than it can be in 
the school room for we do not permit boisterous winds to enter and 
some heat will get in from the corridors no matter how careful one is 
to exclude it. At all times we had places where the children might go 
to warm themselves if they chose. But such places were not used 
except by three of four from a room and by them not four times each 
during the entire winter. 

As the school is a public one and public opinion has to be cared 
for, arrangements have been perfected for the year 1910-1911 to 
provide a current of warmed himiidified outdoor air for each room so 
as to reduce the rigor of wintry weather and give the room a tem- 
perature of between 40° and 50° in winter, preventing it from going 
so low as to alarm anyone. While it is the opinion of the principal 
that such air is not so good for the children as unwarmed air, he has 
conceded a point to doubters and has it understood that a cold room is 
somewhat warmed and is not so severe as outdoor air. He believes 
the time will come when parents will demand what many in the 
neighborhood of the Graham school desire, air for school without 
any heat at all supplied even in the most severe weather but warming 
rooms provided for emergencies. 

Children play out of doors in winter without discomfort in the 
worst weather. If sheltered and kept from the dampness of melting 
snow, they are able to do the work of the school in equally cold 
weather with equally good results. 

Fresh cold air cures diseases, increases the vitality of teachers and 
pupils and makes all more alert intellectually. Hot, dry air makes 
catarrh, grip, pneumonia and all the foul air diseases. It is peculiarly 
adapted to developing and spreading tuberculosis. Cold air checks 
and cures it. 

Teachers in cold air rooms close their day's work feeling fresh and 
well. Those in hot, dry rooms close the day often in a state of collapse. 
Children taught in fresh air learn with avidity and directly. They 
do not require the perpetual reviews and drills so common in our hot, 
dry schools. They are happier and grow more rapidly in cold air. 
The discipline of a school is reduced to a simple problem when the air 
is right. Merely humidifying the air in the Graham school and 
lowering the temperature of all rooms from seven to ten degrees 
lowered the number of cases of office discipline eighty per cent. It 
removed the sources of ordinary friction between pupils and between 
them and their teachers. A cool, humid air is soothing to the 

84 



(iprn Air (HtnsuhtrB 



nervous system. We feel better and hence act better in right air. 

After eight weeks of cold air work in the two rooms first opened 
for the demonstration, the school physician found that the nasal 
discharge which is very common in all primary schools in cold weather 
was entirely absent in the two rooms open to the fresh air. One 
child with catarrh was found in each room but both had been out of 
school and returned the day of the inspection. He found in two 
similar rooms where the air breathed was like that supplied in the 
very best schools of Chicago and other progressive cities that over 
forty per cent of the pupils had nasal discharge, although his examina- 
tion was held before the severest weather had been experienced. 

Some of the most common objections urged by those who inquire 
about the Graham school are that the child's eyes are hurt by the 
light of an open air room and that it is impossible to do the written 
work required in school if we have the air cold. It is quite as easy 
to protect the eyes in the open air room as in the ordinary room. 
Common sense takes care of that. But the objectors do not seem to 
realize that the deadly hot dry air of the ordinary school assails 
the eyes grievously and much of our eye trouble comes from living 
in air which causes a rapid evaporation of mucous secretions and causes 
the eyes to dry up and smart so that disease finds a ready entrance 
in the weakened organ. More eyes are destroyed, probably, by hot 
dry air, such as is common in schools in cold weather than could be 
destroyed by the most foolish use of all the light available in an cpen 
room in this climate where the winter sunlight is not particularly 
trying. 

Those who fear that the written work of the schools must suffer 
because children in mittens cannot use the pen, find relief when they 
see that the pen is not used at all in the first grade, where the greatest 
number of children are. It is used very little in the second grade. 
But the cold air work does not seriously hinder the children in using 
pens. The ink has never frozen in one of our open air school rooms. 
The plants in the kindergarten, the only open air kindergarten in the 
world last year, did not get a touch of frost during the winter. This 
shows that the room was not very frigid. It was rare that we could 
get the temperature low enough to make it worth while to look at 
the thermometer for a record. The house is warm, the corridors 
throw in heat at every open door and the bodies of the children are 
healthy little furnaces supplying a great amount of heat : all contrib- 
ute to keep the temperature from running down to where it gets in 
the barn in the country where children delight to play, no matter 
what the weather may be. 

Hot dry air is common in schools. It is not dry because water 
has been taken out of it, but because when its temperature is raised 

85 



(§pm Air OlruaaJifra 



it expands and its capacity for moisture increases. Few ventilating 
engineers seem to realize the necessity for supplying this needed 
moisture, although every textbook on school management or warming 
and ventilating states positively that humidity must be supplied to 
warmed air to make it fit to breathe. Yet millions of school children 
are obliged to sit in the deadening and dessicating air of ventilating 
and warming systems in which not a grain of moisture is supplied. 

Whoever has lived in hot dry air long enough demands a tem- 
perature of 80°. Those younger and less dessicated like 75°. Others 
less devitalized are comfortable in dry 70°, but the majority of school 
rooms in winter get mysteriously above 70°, the maximum fixed by 
boards of education. A proposal last year to reduce the maximum 
to 68° was planned with great anticipation of opposition from 
many quarters and finally dropped. A temperature of 70° F. is 
too great, but it is so near the average degree of heat demanded by 
weakened persons in dry air that it was with difficulty that Boston 
established 68° as a maximum. There are many old teachers who 
demand and get 80° for their class rooms and the children have to 
begin life where these elderly and devitalized persons are leav- 
ing off. 

The Graham school has a jet of steam thrown into each tempered 
air chamber. It is so distributed by a mechanical device that it gets 
equally into the air of all parts of the chamber and consequently into 
the rooms which are not open rooms. This steam is supplied so that 
the windows in winter are heavily frosted and in cold weather are 
steamed. A school room is not fit for use if its air is warm and its 
windows dry. A washday appearance indicates sanitary conditions. 

There is no danger of overdoing the matter, for when, if ever, there 
should appear a slight gathering of dampness on any wall, shutting off 
the steam supply for a few seconds will cause it to vanish, so thirsty 
is the air that is warmed and not supplied with water. 

Humidified air is comfortable at from eight to ten degrees less 
than dry air. This means a saving of about twenty-five per cent of 
the coal bill for warming. It means also a consumption of some coal 
for supplying the steam jets, so about twenty per cent of the coal bill 
may be saved in any school in a cold climate by supplying humidity 
during the severe weather when fires are required. 

What our saving of coal may be when we have man}^ open rooms 
and the rest humidified is a problem to be worked out during the com- 
ing cold season. But whatever may be the saving in coal it is a 
bagatelle when compared with the waste of money and time in trying 
to teach children in hot dry air. Considering the sickness prevented 
by right air and the lives actually lost by the weakening effects of 
hot dry air applied to the growing child, there is no way of estimating 

86 



(§^m Air (UruBa&prs 




The First Open Air Kindergarten 



the imperative need of making the supply of air in our schools right 
in every respect. 

The open air room necessitates more frequent exercise during 
school hours. It also leads to the better supervision of the recess 
periods. The recess periods of ordinary schools are frequently times 
of rude conduct, obscene communication, physical harm through 
accident and through breathing the hot air of dusty basements, and 
idle waiting for the bell to ring. They ought to be made the most 
valuable portion of the school time. They should give relief from 
application to books and papers and stimulate the circulation of 
blood so as to make all the work of the school more effective. One 
observer has counted the nmiiber of children actually playing active 
games at recess in a school of over one thousand children and found 
the number painfully small. In one instance there were but seven 
boys playing in a space a block in length and no girls at all were 
playing. Some ■ were leaning against the building and others were 
walking about with arms interlocked and seemingly no inclination 
to play. There were several hundred in the group and the time was 
recess, a time supposed to be used for play. 

87 



(§pn\ Air (Untsahrrs 



One great reason why city children do not play as freely as our 
large schools at recess, is that any game started by the more enter- 
prising ones is likely to be broken up and the materials confiscated 
by the idle ones who are stronger. Another reason is that children 
generally are weaker and less likely to take the initiative than 
children of rural districts or of the old schools of a generation ago when 
the ventilation was from open windows. 

At the Graham school the recesses are divided into two equal 
periods and but one-fourth of the school occupies the yard at a time. 
Small children are allotted suitable space and only one or two rooms 
of the same grade are on the grounds at once. The teachers keep 
their own pupils together and organize the play. It is regarded as a 
regular part of the teacher's work to see that her children have a 
good time and are not interfered with by the others. She leads them 
to the grounds and at a given signal all disperse to visit the basements. 
They hurry back to begin the game agreed upon. In some instances 
the sexes divide for games and in other instances two rooms of about 
the same grade unite for a large game. A small book of the most 
successful games is being compiled. Teachers and pupils enjoy the 
period equally. 

Getting tired physically in the open air and having a period of 
rest immediately afterward is a sure way to become strong. This 
has been explained to the children and they are as desirous of becom- 
ing strong as of learning. In fact, appearances indicate that they are 
more so. They are told that getting quite tired once a day makes 
them strong if it is done in the open air. Becoming strong means 
getting well or avoiding sickness. Being well and strong means good 
growth. It also means mental acuteness. The best minds are not 
always in the strongest bodies, but a good mind can do a great deal 
better work when the body is strong and well. 

Fresh air work, both outdoors and inside, doubles the teacher's 
power and the results in the pupils. By breathing Nature's air, by 
dressing warm.ly, by taking much exercise, in school and out, the child 
is kept so much more alive than the ordinary school child that the 
mental and physical results are surprisingly good. So we have open 
air rooms to build up vitality and to fit pupils to learn. We make it 
possible for them to desire learning earnestly and to get it joyfully. 



Cold Weather Means Poor Ventilation. — No Perfect System of Ven- 
tilation HAS Yet Been Devised. — -A Perfect System Would Insure 
Clean, Moist Air, of Uniform Temperature. — Difficulties of Se- 
curing Good Ventilation, Windows, Walls, Radiators, Leakage. 
— -Instead of Preventing Drafts, Make Drafts Comfortable by 
Keeping Air in Motion and Humidifying it. — Comfort of Air 
Depends on the Person. — Health Demands That Expired Air 
BE Blown Out of Breathing Zone. — Ideal System is Upward 
Ventilation, with Heating Apparatus Separate, Humidity 
Supplied, and Easily Operable Cut-Offs. — Good Standards of 
School Ventilation Demand: Temperature 6o° to 65° P.; Humid- 
ity 60; CO2 6 OR 7 per 100,000; 4,000 Cubic Feet of Air per Pupil, 
IF Outside Air is Mixed with Expired Air, 1,000 if Unmixed; 
Rooms Aired Three Times a Day; Vacuum Cleaning; Rooms not 
Wider Than Twice Height of Window from Floor. — Need of 
Compulsory State Ventilation Laws. — Fourteen Basic Prin- 
ciples OF Ventilation Submitted by Commission Appointed by 
American Society of Ventilating and Heating Engineers, Chicago 
Public Schools and Chicago Health Department. 



89 



Bfttttlattnn of i'rJionl Hooma 



School children need well ventilated school rooms. Ventilating 
conditions are all right in the late spring, the early summer and the 
early fall. Conditions are all wrong in the late fall, the winter and 
the early spring. 

As the weather gets cold, the fires are started, the windows come 
down, the storm windows and doors are put in and the harm begins. 
The old, stove-heated school room was very trying. The newer 
ventilation m^ethods are efforts to improve conditions. 

A perfect system of ventilation is, as yet, only a matter of theory. 
However, with the wealth of brains and intelligence now being exer- 
cised among physicians and ventilating engineers, it is confidently 
hoped and expected that a practically perfect system may be produced. 

A perfect system of ventilation should, without unpleasant drafts, 
provide fresh air to each person, and remove immediately all air which 
has been exhaled without mixing the two or contaminating the 
former. A perfect system should insure that the fresh air be clean, 
properly moist and at a uniform temperature. With such a system 
the volume of air necessary for each occupant would be only equal to 
the amount of air exhaled in an hour, a volume almost infinitesimal 
compared with the amount of air ordinarily pumped into an average 
Chicago school room. 

Physical conditions have rendered the construction of an ideal 
ventilating system very difficult and very expensive. For instance, 
every window presents a cooling surface, which, contracting the air 
that lies against it causes it to fall, setting up local currents which 
mix the breathed and unbreathed air. Every cool wall likewise 
creates this current. Every radiator or pipe, with its hot surface, 
expands the adjacent air, causing it to rise and mix. 

Warm, fresh air entering a cooler room rises to the ceiling. Cool, 
fresh air falls to the floor. Warm, exhaled, foul air rises, and is 
apparently raised, lowered, and diffused by the various heating and 
cooling agencies just as is fresh air. Then there is leakage, which 
affects an ordinary school room tremendously. On the windowed 
side enough air often comes through the walls and cracks and around 
the window sashes of a well built room to change the entire volume 
of air in ten minutes. On the leeward side eddies form suction areas 
which cause a like volume of warm, often fresh, air to leak out. 

91 



Wptn Atr (Erusaliprs 



These considerations have, up to this time, caused nearly all 
ventilating schemes to be designed on the "dilution" principle. 
Sometimes the heating is done by raising the air delivered for 
ventilating purposes sufficiently above the temperature desired in the 
rooms to maintain that tem.perature there without any direct heat in 
the rooms. Again the air is heated only to the room temperature 
desired and the room is warmed by heaters located in the room. 
Both schemes are objectionable, inefficient and expensive, because 
of the large volumes of air which must be handled to secure reasonable 
results on the dilution principle. 

Leakage through walls and around windows is a very serious 
factor with either system and even though a pressure be main- 
tained in the building above that of the atmosphere outside, so much 
lighter and more elastic is the artificially warmed air inside that the 
cold, heavy, outside air with even a breeze pressure enters the rooms 
in streams. 

When air is increased in temperature by the ordinary heating 
apparatus it is decreased in moisture. Where, say, 70 per cent humid- 
ity is common at a 68° temperature in summer and seems to be most 
advantageous to human development, such a humidity is never in 
force in an artificially heated room unless special apparatus to create 
it is provided. It is probably safe to say that not more than 2 per 
cent of the public schools in the United States have any humidifying 
apparatus. The air having been heated to about 100° and cooled to 
about 70° before it reaches the pupils, is superdried and seeks to ob- 
tain its proper balance of moisture, hence dust, dry throats, parched 
lips and a rapid rate of skin evaporation, rendering it necessary to 
maintain a high temperature for comfort. 

It is our opinion that ventilating engineers have wasted much 
effort in trying to prevent currents or drafts of air. On the other 
hand, they have not expended enough effort on making drafts or 
currents comfortable. 

In considering the comfort from air several factors must be taken 
into consideration. The body heats the air which is in contact with 
it to about 90° F. The skin surface of the body is about 5° F. higher 
than this. The heat mechanism of all bodies older than the early 
stages of infant life is so adjusted that provision is made for loss of 
heat and moisture by the skin. Such loss must go on at all times, else 
there is discomfort. 

When the temperature of the air is below 60° F. the loss is so 
great that we cover the body with extra layers of low conducting, 
partially impervious cloth to hold the warm, moist air next the skin 
under the clothes. When the temperature mounts above 70° F. we 
remove some of this cloth and change the remainder to cloth of an 

92 



Wptn Air ©rusa&^ra 



open texture and greater conductivity. When the temperature 
mounts above 85° F., if there are no drafts, we use fans to drive the 
90° F. air from around the face and from next the body within the 
clothes. 

It has been demonstrated that if two rooms be taken, each room 
warm and each occupied, one having fans and the other not, the room 
with the fans will show more COo in the breathing zone than will the 
other room. This is because the air which is ordinarily near the ceil- 
ing and is rich in CO2 is blown back down into the breathing zone. 
On the other hand, the room containing the fans will be the more 
comfortable because the currents blow the hot air of the aerial 
envelope away from the body. There is no comfort without air 
currents strong enough to change the air around the face freely 
and to blow out the clothes frequently. If the currents get lower than 
60° F. something must be done to counteract. 

The children in the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School got 
heavy clothing and additional food and took active exercise. This 
is not the remedy for the average school room. There the remedy 
is to supply the currents heated to 60° F. 

In hot weather no clothing is cool that does not permit the hot 
air of the aerial envelope to blow away. In cold weather there is no 
comfort unless the aerial envelope blows away, but the chilling of the 
body surface will be too rapid for comfort unless something is done 
to compensate. The things which can be done are to warm the blow- 
ing air or to take more exercise. 

A second factor making for the comfort of air is humidity. A 
humid air chills more than a moderately dry air because the moisture 
of the air is a better conductor of heat than is the air itself. On the 
other hand, if the air is very dry, evaporation from the skin is exces- 
sive and the skin is unduly chilled if the temperature is low. 

In cold weather, then, ventilation should be done with air which 
is fairly humid, yet not too humid. To get up or down decreases 
comfort. 

In hot weather the body tries to cool itself by pouring out perspira- 
tion. The evaporation of this perspiration lowers the temperature of 
the surface from which it has evaporated. Therefore in hot weather 
dry air currents are much more comfortable than wet ones. 

The comfort of currents is largely dependent upon the personal 
equation. Generally speaking, fat people want colder currents 
than lean people. Active people want them colder than sluggish 
people. Some people are naturally better heat makers than other 
people. They will be comfortable in colder currents than other 
people. Some people have trained themselves, so that their heat- 
making apparatus is well developed. They have educated them- 

93 



(3ptn Air (Eruaab^ra 



selves away from close, heavy clothing, which held the foul hot moist 
air of the body in contact with it. They have educated their 
mechanism to the point where they feel better when this air is blown 
away and the heat lost is made up by greater heat production. And, 
finally, there are many psychologic factors. A draft crank is difficult 
to analyze. So much for comfort. 

Many of the above comfort considerations merge quite logically 
into health considerations. In addition to the need of currents of 
air blowing around the body there is the still greater need of currents 
blowing around the head. The head, face and neck need the stimulus 
of having air strike their skin. They need that this air should be cool. 
They can stand this air cooler than can the body because they have 
been differently trained. The main consideration, however, is that 
air currents should blow the expired air away from the nose and out 
of the breathing zone. Should we not strive to get more currents 
rather than fewer, at the same time trying in cold weather to temper 
the temperature and humidity of the currents so as to properly safe- 
guard the comfort of the occupants of the ventilated rooms? 

Chicago has tried thoroughly in the schools that system of heating 
and ventilation which supplies pre-heated air to the rooms, the loss 
through walls and glass causing it to drop in temperature to about 
70° by the time it reaches the pupil. New York has tried thoroughly 
in the schools the other system, in which heaters are placed in the 
rooms and the air for ventilation is introduced at little above the 
desired temperature. Both operate on the dilution principle; the 
principle well illustrated, perhaps, by a glass full of red ink. Try to 
remove the red ink by pouring in clear water. Many times the 
volume of ink must be displaced before the color is gone. 

The ideal system seems possible of realization only by upward 
ventilation, in which the air, at the desired temperature, passes 
upward from the breathing plane to a suction outlet, and in which the 
heating is a separate consideration, so handled by very ample low 
temperature radiation carefully distributed that the local antag- 
onistic currents of the cold surfaces are eliminated. This system 
has been to a certain extent found practicable in theaters. Its 
adoption in school rooms can follow only a change in the construc- 
tion of these buildings, which will permit of the necessary distributing 
chambers under the floors, or perhaps of the necessary supply pipes 
in the desks. 

Any percentage of humidity may be maintained by proper regula- 
tion of the temperature of the entering air and of the water used for 
spraying it. Double windows may be desirable for fuel economy and 
to prevent condensation on them in cold weather, due to the inside 
humidity. Easily operable cut-offs will be necessary in the supply 

94 



(§ptn Air (^vuBuhnB 



and vent ducts to each room, so that when the windows are opened 
and the room flushed out, as is often desirable, and as a sense of clean- 
liness and decency seems to suggest, it can be done without, as at 
present, affecting the air delivery to other rooms. At best no artificial 
scheme of ventilation will ever, in all probability, equal outdoor 
conditions in promoting human health and happiness. 

For the approximately normal children who make up the class 
commonly known as school children, ventilation reaching the follow- 
ing standards will be found satisfactory: 

Temperature : The temperature of the occupied parts of the school 
room should not be allowed to go higher than 65° F. at any time when 
the heat is on. The heat of the room should be approximately uni- 
form in all parts of the room. A temperature of 60° F. is better 
than 65° F. 

Humidity: The relative humidity of the school room should be 
around 60°. Such a humidity will cause the window panes to frost 
in all very cold weather. It can be safely assumed that the air in 
any room in which there are thirty people, the room having single 
windows which do not frost when the outside temperature goes lower 
than 20° F., is too dry. 

CO2 Content: The CO2 in school rooms should not rise above 6 
or 7 per 100,000. 

Volume of Air: The volume of air depends upon the principle 
employed in its introduction. 4,000 cubic feet per pupil per hour will 
be required if the foul air is perfectly admixed with the' fresh air. 
1,000 cubic feet per pupil per hour is enough if the fresh air is fairly 
well protected from admixture with the foul air. A figure in between 
these two figures will be required according as the two kinds of air 
are kept separate. It is not so much the volume of air as its method 
of introduction that counts. If the air is introduced hot, or even 
warm, sa}^ over 110° F., it should be introduced high up in order to 
prevent its blowing fresh from the inlet to the outlet. If the air is 
introduced cold, without any heating, it should either be introduced 
high up near the ceiling or else be introduced in a current directed 
upward so that the force will carry it well toward the ceiling, this in 
order that it may be warmed before it reaches the body. Under other 
circumstances it should be introduced low down. 

In the language of the British Departmental Committee on Venti- 
lation of Factories and Workshops, 1907: 

"The quantity of air depends on the distribution; and in many cases a 
relatively small quantity well distributed is far more effective than a large 
quantity badly distributed." 

95 



(§pBn Air (Erusa&era 



Blowing Out of the Rooms : During the recess periods the air in 
the room should be blown out by raising all the windows and opening 
all of the doors. This lowers the bacterial count of the air of the room 
about ninety-five per cent. It blows out contagion of all kinds. It 
freshens the air, makes it bracing. It should get back to about 50° 
F. by the time the students come in. They have been running and 
playing and they will warm the room to 60° F., in a very few minutes. 

Dust: The dust should be kept down in the school room. This 
can be accomplished by good cleaning at night, say with a vacuum 
cleaner; by feet scrapers, to be used by the pupils before entering 
the room; and by keeping down the chalk dust. If the eraser is very 
slightly dampened before use, the blackboard dust will not be harm- 
ful. Wherever it is feasible the use of vacuum cleaning should be 
required by law. 

Light : The school rooms should be long and narrow, in width not 
over twice the height of the top of the window from the floor. The 
light should so fall as to protect the eyes of the pupils. 

Apparatus: The ventilating apparatus should be of such a type 
as to be readily adaptable to rapid changes in wind and weather. 

The effect of lack of fresh air is especially brought out by the 
following extract from the May 14 (1910) Bulletin of the Chicago 
Department of Health: 

"The continuation of the unseasonably low temperature has delayed the 
free opening of homes and as a consequence our pneumonia death rate 
continues high for this season. The deaths from pneumonia during the week 
just closed reached 137, 13 higher than in the preceding week and 23 in 
excess of the record of the corresponding week of last year. Those of our 
citizens who are keeping the windows of their living and working places 
open are in no danger — all others are." 

The effect of the installation of reasonably efficient devices for 
insuring ventilation is shown by Prof. Winslow, of the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, in a paper on "The Cash Value of Factory 
Ventilation" in which he mentions that: 

"Efficient production requires skilled and practical workers, in good 
physical condition, applying themselves with energy and enthusiasm to 
their tasks. 

"Irregularity of attendance and the physical sluggishness and nervous 
inattention which accompany lowered vitality, mean direct money loss to 
the employer of labor, as well as a burden on the community at large." 

As an example showing the results of improved ventilation, the paper 
calls attention to the operating room of the New England Telephone and 
Telegraph Company at Cambridge, Mass., a long room having a capacity of 
30,000 cubic feet, extending from front to back of a business block. Fifty 
or sixty women are employed in this room as operators. 

"During the warmer months no difficulty has ever been experienced in 

96 



(^pm Air (tvuBuhttB 



ventilating the room by means of large windows at each end, and by the use 
of electric fans. In the winter time, however, it was impossible to secure 
adequate natural ventilation without undue exposure to drafts. In the spring 
of 1907 a simple but efficient system of artificial ventilation was installed. 

"A marked improvement in the comfort and general condition of the 
operators followed this change and the betterment was sufficiently marked 
to show itself notably in the greater regularity of work. 

"Statistics collected and tabulated showed that prior to the installation 
of the ventilating system for the three winter months, January, February 
and March, inclusive, four-and-nine-tenths of the force were absent in 1906, 
and four-and-five-tenths per cent in 1907. With the ventilating system in 
use, the absences for the same months in 1908 fell to only one-and-nine-tenths 
per cent, a striking reduction." 

And the following from a paper by Mr. William G. Snow: 

"In certain buildings where the results of changing from poor to good 
ventilation have been carefully observed, a marked improvement in the 
general health of the occupants has been manifest. For example: The 
records of the United States Pension Bureau show that when the offices 0} 
the Department were located in scattered and poorly ventilated buildings 
18,736 days were lost by employees through illness in one year, and about 
the same number for several successive years. 

"When the Department became established in its new well-ventilated 
quarters, the loss was reduced to 10,114 days' absence on account of illness, 
the working force being larger and the work increased. 

"The gain effected is not to be measured alone by the days' absence 
saved, but by the greater vitality and efficiency of the entire working force. 

"In the Boston City Hospital good ventilation is said to have given 
reductions in death rate from 44 per cent to 13 per cent in surgical wards, and 
from 23 per cent to 6 per cent in other wards." 

There are compulsory ventilation laws in a few states. They are 
not uniform and some of their provisions are impracticable. The 
moral effect of such laws, however, is excellent and great progress is 
being made. Only six states have ventilation laws for school build- 
ings. Two, however, have state board of health regulations covering 
the same effect. Three have bills pending and in eight states the mat- 
ter is being agitated. 

Recognizing the harm which is being done by bad air, the Ameri- 
can Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, the Chicago 
Public Schools and the Chicago Health Department have appointed 
a commission for study. This commission knows that much harm is 
done by pollution of the outside air, but this is beyond their province. 
Of the harm which is done by bad ventilation, part comes from lower- 
ing of the vital tone and part comes from air borne infections. Some 
part of the harm which comes from lowering of vital tone makes 
itself manifest in infections which otherwise would not have occurred. 
Lowering of the vital tone is shown in listlessness, sleepiness, mental 
heaviness and slowness, gaping, drowsiness, paleness, headache, 
anemia, laziness, enlarged glands, mouth breathing, snuffling, dis- 

97 



(§^n\ Air OlrusalifrB 



position to catch cold. The air borne infections are pneumonia, colds, 
consumption, influenza, some of the scarlet fever, diphtheria and 
smallpox. 

It is more important that the people should have tempered pure 
air than that they should have tempered pure water. 

This commission is still at work. The method of procedure is to 
have members submit principles and methods of ventilation. By 
methods is meant basic methods. They do not consider devices or 
apparatus. When discussion has been as complete as is desired, and 
the members are ready for a conclusion, a proposition is put to a vote. 
So far fourteen basic principles have been unanimously agreed on. 
Others are still under discussion. 

Those first discussed are basic principles of ventilation. In the 
main they are hygienic. Those now under discussion in the main are 
more concrete and relate more particularly to the mechanical side 
of the question. 

The following are the principles upon which agreement has been 
reached: 

1. Resolved, that carbon dioxide in the amount present in ordinary 
expired air does not settle out from a mixture of air and CO . 

2. Resolved, that carbon dioxide is not the agent of pollution of major 
importance in expired air. 

3. Resolved, that a temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit with a proper 
relative humidity is the proper maximum temperature for rooms artificially 
heated and ventilated. 

4. Resolved, that in the present state of knowledge it is impossible to 
designate the particular harmful agent or agents in, or- associated with, 
expired air. 

5. Resolved, that large quantities of CO2, more than 10 per cent, when 
long continued, are capable of producing some harm to the human body when 
inhaled, regardless of the source of the gas, provided the oxygen percentage 
is not greater than in ordinary air. 

6. Resolved, that it is cheaper to heat and move air enough for adequate 
ventilation by currents than it is by dilution. 

7. Resolved, that, neglecting humidity, the sum total of heating agencies 
in a room with stationary temperature is equal to radiation by the walls, 
ceilings, and floors, plus the heat lost with the outgoing air. 

8. Resolved, that upward ventilating currents of air in crowded rooms 
are desirable when arising from sources free from dust or other injurious 
particles. 

9. Resolved, that in those industries where considerable CO2 is liberated 
in the process of manufacture, CO2 is not a proper standard of air pollution. 

10. Resolved, that the delivery of a certain volume of air per hour per 
inhabitant in a given space does not necessarily constitute ventilation. 

11. Resolved, that in cold weather it is not possible to ventilate an 
occupied room in this climate except with air previously warmed. 

12. Resolved, that heating and ventilating are separate questions and 

98 



(ippn Air (^vnBuhsvB 



should always be so considered. When efforts are made to amalgamate 
them it should be borne in mind that there are parts of them that cannot 
be amalgamated and must be kept separate. 

13. Resolved, that relative humidity is one of the raost important 
factors in ventilation from the standpoint of health. 

14. Resolved, that it is economic from a fuel standpoint to maintain a 
fairly constant relative humidity in ventilation. 

CHICAGO VENTILATION COMMISSION, 
George Mehring, 
W. L. Bronaugh, 
S. R. Lewis, 

Representing Illinois Chapter, American So- 
ciety Heating and Ventilating Engineers. 
Prof. F. W. Shepherd, 

Representing Board of Education of Chicago . 
F. O. Tonney, M. D., 

Director of Laboratories. 
W. A. Evans, M. D., 

Commissioner of Health, Representing De- 
partment of Health. 






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100 



^rltnnl ICtfr tn tl|0 (§pm Air 



Open Air Instruction Begun in Vacation Schools of 1909 by Co-opera- 
tion OF Board of Education and Tuberculosis Institute. — Results. 
— Development of Open Air Plan in Graham, Elizabeth McCormick, 
Hamline, Moseley and Holden Schools. — Co-operation for Good 
Ventilation Secured from Principals, Teachers, Janitors and En- 
gineers OF City Schools. — Regulations for Flushing Out Rooms 
Three Times a Day. — Notification of Teacher if Artificial System 
IS Shut Down; Notification of Principal if Ribbon Over Ventilator 
Fails to Indicate Current; Opening Windows When Artificial 
Ventilation is Shut Off. — The Problem: Will Low Temperature 
Rooms Where No Extra Food or Clothing are Provided Accomplish 
the Same Results for the Children as Open Air Rooms and Extra 
Food and Clothing^ — In Chicago Schools, Children Will be 
Assigned to Low Temperature Rooms by Medical Inspector; to 
Open Air Rooms by Medical Inspector and Attending Physician. — 
Medical Tests and Records Will be Under Direction of Health 
Commissioner; Food and Clothing Will be Supplied by United 
Charities or School Extension Committee of Woman's Club; 
Teacher, School Equipment, and Supervision by Board of Edu- 
cation. 



101 




iU2 



g>rl|0xil ICtff in tl|? (§pm Air 



At the meeting of the Cominittee on School Management of 
the Board of Education of Chicago on May 27, 1909, a "proposal 
for supplementing the work of the vacation schools of Chicago by 
a period of open air instruction" was presented by Dr. Alfred D. 
Kohn, member of the Board of Education. 

This recommendation was adopted by the Board of Education, 
and the first step in the carrying out of the plan was taken during 
the summer of 1909, w^hen a school was opened on the grounds of 
the Harvard School building, under the joint auspices of the Board 
of Education and the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. The pur- 
pose of the school was stated at the time to be as follows : ' ' To dem- 
onstrate the effectiveness of fresh air, sunshine, nourishing food, 
plenty of rest, and a judicious combination of light study and recre- 
ation, as a means of obtaining for that large group of so-called ' physi- 
cally sub-normal children' (children at the same time usually pre- 
disposed to tuberculo'sis, or in whom the disease is already incipient, 
but has not yet reached an infectious stage) such a healthy normal 
development with sufficient vitality and powers of resistance as to 
enable them to return to their places beside other children of the 
same age in the public schools, and do their work as well. In other 
words, to remove the handicap caused by under -nourishment, un- 
hygienic home surroundings, inherited tendencies, etc." The 
entire facilities of the school building and grounds were at the dis- 
posal of the pupils, including the assembly hall, with its piano, a 
school-room, toilet rooms, shower baths, gymnasium, school yard, 
and garden. There were also added, by purchase or by transfer 
from other schools, a gas range, dishes, knives, forks, spoons, kitchen 
utensils, an ice box, garden tools, watering pots, towels, soap, nap- 
kins, sand and sand box, dining tables, scales and measuring appa- 
ratus, number paper, pencils, supplementary readers, raffia material, 
a large recreation tent, and reclining chairs. 

William E. Watt, principal of the Graham School, was appointed 
to take charge of this, the first open air school conducted by the 
Board of Education of Chicago. A full account of the working of 
the school is found in another chapter of the present book. At the 
close of the summer Mr. Watt reported that "the children improved 
mentally as never before in their lives," and that "in the hot weather 
of summer we increased the weight by an average of four pounds 
each in these children." 

103 



(§p0« Atr (Eruaa&^ra 



The illness of Dr. Kohn, which began about this time and ended 
within a few months in his death, was a very serious setback to the 
development of the open air movement for the public schools, but 
with the start made in 1909 much progress can still be shown. In 
the Graham School a number of the rooms are now being conducted 
as low-temperature rooms, with special attention to the proper 
humidifying of the air. In the Hamline School and the Moseley 
School low-temperature rooms have been opened; a third room is 
nearly ready for opening at the Franklin School ; and arrangements 
have been made for starting a class on the roof of one of the muni- 
cipal bathing houses, in Gault Court. 

The movement for open air rooms has had an important result 
in another direction. A plea made by the Superintendent at a 
large gathering of principals and teachers in the fall of 1909 met 
with an immediate response from many of the principals and 
teachers and members of the engineering department of the public 
schools. The problem of ventilation was taken up anew in a large 
majority of the school buildings. The paper read by Dr. Henry 
Baird Favill at the Denver meeting of the National Education Asso- 
ciation was, through his 'courtesy, published in the Educational Bi- 
Monthly of the Chicago Normal School. A copy of Dr. Favill's 
paper and also a copy of an article on ventilation, especially pre- 
pared by Dr. W. A. Evans, Commissioner of Health, were placed 
in the hands of every teacher in the City of Chicago. The educa- 
tion department in many schools was aroused to a keener recognition 
of the need of fresh air at all times in the school room, and with the 
co-operation of the engineers succeeded in improving fresh air con- 
ditions in those buildings. 

Because of the theory that warming and ventilating a school 
room are only different phases of the same problem, there was at 
first on the part of some members of the department of engineering 
a tendency to view the suggestions made by the Superintendent as 
interference with another department, but with a desire on the part 
of all to do what is best for the children, and also with a lively sense 
of the inroads made by tuberculosis, the engineering department 
has entered into warm co-operation with the education department 
in the endeavor to solve the problem of better air in the school rooms. 
The following, prepared by the chief engineer, is from Physical 
Education in the new Course of Study for the Elementary Schools: 

"Principals, with the co-operation of teachers, will arrange for 
flushing the rooms with fresh air by the opening of windows and 
class-room doors throughout the building at practically the same 
moment, in order that advantage may be taken of the prevailing 
wind. The temperature of the rooms should not be allowed to fall 

104 



Wptn Air Olrttaa&^rs 



below 55 deg. Fah., and the responsibility for the habitable condition 
of the class-rooms will be placed upon the respective teachers. In 
extremely cold weather the windows should be opened but slightly 
and careful attention given to prompt closing of same. Except 
where special permission is given by the Chief Engineer, windows are 
to be opened during these periods only: Recess in morning session, 
close of morning session, recess in afternoon session. 

"Whenever the atmospheric conditions are such that the me- 
chanical system of ventilation is closed down, the principal will be 
notified promptly by the engineer, and a similar notice given at the 
resumption of same. It is suggested that the principals and 
engineers of buildings agree on a series of signals which may be 
given on the school gongs; such a system is now in operation in a 
number of buildings. 

"One ribbon >^" x 14" will be placed over each heat inlet where 
practicable, and teachers are urged to communicate at once with 
the principal should this ribbon indicate a closing down of the me- 
chanical system at a time when it should be in operation. 

"When the mechanical system of ventilation is closed down, 
the rooms should be flushed with fresh air more frequently than 
when the ventilating fan is in operation, and two or more windows 
should be kept open several inches at the top, due attention being 
given to preventing a draft in the room." 

There may be perfectly ventilated school buildings, but it has 
never been my good fortune to visit one. In the East and the West 
one recognizes the same stale conditions in the atmosphere of the 
school rooms. It is no reflection upon the architects and engineers 
of buildings in which large numbers of people are congregated to say 
that the problem of ventilation is unsolved. The development of 
sanitary science, and the interest of members of the scientific and 
medical professions in the possibilities underlying such science, give 
promise of better conditions in the near future with regard to venti- 
lating and lighting buildings for the children and young people than 
have yet been worked out. 

Two problems have been presented by the experiment in open 
air and low temperature rooms. The first is whether good results 
may be obtained in open-window rooms where fresh air is supplied 
in abundance, but where the air is warmed and the temperature not 
allowed to fall as low as in the rooms now open, probably not below 
60 degrees ; and whether under such conditions it would be necessary 
to make special provision for extra clothing and food; second, 
whether equally good results can be obtained in a room where the 
temperature is kept at a lower point, that is, below 60 degrees, but 
not lower than 55 degrees, provision being made for extra clothing 

105 



(ipfn Atr (EruBa!ifr0 



and food. Some experiments along these lines have been made at 
the Graham School and information gained which will be of assist- 
ance in further experiments. The work at the Graham School 
under Mr. Watt's direction will be continued. In all other open 
air or low temperature rooms which are now open or will be opened 
by the Board of Education, the conditions above outlined will be 
standardized. All assignments of children to low temperature and 
to open air rooms will be made on recommendations originating 
with the medical inspector of the school from which a child is trans- 
ferred. In assignments to the low temperature rooms the judgment 
of the medical inspector will be final, but in the case of open air 
rooms it will be subject to approval by the attending physician. 
Medical tests and records will be under the direction of Dr. William 
A. Evans, Commissioner of Health. Extra food and lunches will 
be supplied by the Extension Department of the Chicago Woman's 
Club or by the United Charities through the Elizabeth McCormick 
Memorial Fund. The trustees of this fund have promised to help 
standardize the fresh air work of the public schools — selection of 
pupils, extra supervision, and attendants — by the establishment of 
at least one open window room and the provision of close medical 
inspection for three low temperature rooms. The teachers, the 
courses of study, and the entire school equipment will be supplied 
by the Board of Education, and will be under the direction of the 
Superintendent of Schools. 



106 



Alili^nba 



Chart Showing Methods and Results of Open Air Schools in Eight 
American Cities — The Testimony of Teachers in Open Air Schools- 
Bibliography OF Open Air School Movement. 



mrtlj060 nnh S^aulta nf (iprn At 





Date of 
Opening 


Months 

of 
Attend- 
ance 


W fie re 
Conducted 


,How Maintained 


City 


Teaclier 


Food and Clothing 


Transpor 


Providence, 
R.I. 


January, 
1908 


ID 


Old brick 
school house. 
Open window 
room, heated 

by stoves. 


School 
Committee. 


School Committee 
and Providence 
League for Sup- 
pression of Tb. 


Provide 

League 

Suppres 

of Tt 


Boston, Mass. 


July, 1908 


12 


At first in tent, 

then moved to 

roof of park 

refectory. 


School 
Committee. 


Ass'n for Relief 
and Control of Tb. 
first, Consump- 
tives' Hospital 
of City, later. 


School C 
first,Cons 
tives' Ho 

of City, 1 


New York 

City. 

(i) Ferry-boat 

"Southfield." 


December, 
1908 


12 


Old ferry-boat. 


Board of 
Education. 


Food, Bellevue Hos- 
pital. Clothing, 
Woman's Auxiliary 
Bellevue Tb. Clinic. 


Woman's 

iliary Bel 

Hospita 

Clinic 


(2) Ferry-boat 
"Middletown." 


August, 1908 


12 


Old ferry-boat. 


Board of 
Education. 


Ladies' Aux. of City 
Health Department. 


Ladies' Aux. 
Health Depa 


(3) Vanderbilt 
Day Camp. 


May, 1909 


12 


Roof Vander- 
bilt Clinic. 


Board of 
Education. 


Am. Nat. Red Cross 
& Vanderbilt Clinic 


Am. Nat 
Red Cr 


(4) Ferry-boat 
"Westfield." 


Septemb 'r, 
1909 


10 


Old ferry-boat. 


Board of 
Education. 


City through 
Bellevue Hospital. 


None 


(5) Public 
School No. 21. 


April, 1910 


10 


Class room 
with pivoted 
windows and 
roof platform. 


Board of 
Education. 


Food, Charity Or- 
ganization Society. 
Clothing, City. 


None 


Pittsburgh, Pa. 


May, 
1908 


12 


Balcony on 

Tb. League 

Hospital. 


Dispensary 
Aid Society 
ofTb.League 


Tb. League. 


Tb. Lea 


Cambridge, 
Mass. 


April, 1909 


10 


Old dwelling- 
house, re- 
modeled. 


School 
Committee. 


Anti-Tb. Ass'n 
first. Now City. 


Anti-Tb.. 

first. > 

City 


Chicago. 

(i)ChicagoTb. 

Institute 

School. 


August, 1909 


I 


Tent on 

school 

grounds. 


Board of 
Education. 


Tb. Institute. 


Tb. Inst 


<2) Graham 
School. 


September, 
1909 


10 


Open window 

school room. No heat. 


Board of 
Education. 


None. 


Non 


(3) Elizabeth 
McCormick 
Open Air 
School. 


October, 
1909 


10 


Roof of day- 
nursery. 
Asbestos- 
board tent. 


Board of 
Education. 


United Charities 
of Chicago, 


United C 
ties of Ch 


(4)Chicago Tb. 
Institute 
Schools (3). 


July, 1910 


13^ 


Tents on 

school 
grounds. 


Board of 
Education. 


Chicago Public 

School Extension 

Committee. 


Chicago 1 

School E 

sion Co 


Rochester, 

N. Y. 


October, 
1909 


12 


At first tent, then 

unused room in school 

house remodeled. 


Board of 
Education. 


Food, Public 

Health Ass'n. 

Clothing, Needlework Guild. 


Public H 

Ass'i 


Hartford, 
Conn. 


January, 
1910 


10 


Tent. 


Board of 
Education. 


Society for Prevention of 
Tuberculosis 


Society for 
tion of Tube 



* This figure mcludes all expenditures for equipment. See page 59. Cost of food per da 

Beside the cities included in this chart, Brooklyn, N. Y. has had an open air school for tb 

Brockton, Mass., Newark, N. J., Wilkes Barre, Pa., Philadelphia, Pa., Portland. Me. Washini 

Camden N. J., Albany, N. Y., Columbus, O., Milwaukee, Wis., Buffalo, N. Y., Pawtucket, R. 1., 



g^rifflnlB in iEtgtjt Am^rtran (HxtxtB 



n 


Home Supervision 


Hours 

of 
Study 


Hours 

of 
Rest 


Feed- 
ings 
per 
Day 


Av. 

Gain 

in 

Weight 


Av. 
Cost 

per 
Day 


No. 
of 
Attend- 
ants 


No. 
of 
Teach- 
ers 


No. 

of 

Pupils 


ICind of Case 
Admitted 


1 


Tb. Nurses of 

District Nursing 

Ass'n. 


■ 5 





2 


4 


No 
report 





I 


25 


Incipient and 
predisposed 
tuberculosis 


P- 

al 


Nurses of Ass'n 

for Relief and 

Control of Tb., 

first. Hospital 

nurses, later. 


0-4 


2 


3 


No 
report 


30 
cents 


2 


I 


41 


Open or closed 
tuberculosis 


X- 


District Nurses. 


2 


2*^2* 


4 


6 


53 
cents 


7 


I 


135 


Open 
tuberculosis 


t. 


Tb. Clinic Nurses. 


I*-2A 


I 


3 


3^-lb. 
a week 


23-41 
cents 


7 


2 


71 


Open 
tuberculosis 


1 


Bd. of Health and 
Tb. Clinic Nurses. 


4 


2 


3 


I lb. 
a week 


4i>^ 
cents 


3 


I 


34 


Open 
tuberculosis 




Tb. Clinic Nurses. 


3X 


I 


3 


1^-2 


55 
cents 


3 


I 


73 


Open 
tuberculosis 




None, except by 
visits of teacher. 


3% 


lVl2 


3 


2%5 


15 

cents 


I 


I 


20 


Anaemic and de- 
bilitated children 




Tb. League 
Dispensary. 


4 


2 


3 


5M 


45 
cents 


2 


I 


12-15 


Incipient and 

predisposed 

tuberculosis 


n 


School Nurses. 


-, •' / 
3:3 





2 


1-3 


cents 


I 


I 


24 


Ansemic and de- 
bilitated children 




Nurses of Chicago 

Tuberculosis 

Institute. 


2 


2 


5 


3-8 


48.7 
cents 


2 


2 


30 


Incipient and 
predisposed 
tuberculosis 




None. 


5 








No 
record 








7 


300 


Ordinary school 
children 


i- 

0. 


Nurses of Chicago 

Tuberculosis 

Institute. 


3? 4 


I.^' 


3 


3-6 


64.6 
cents* 


4 


1 


49 


Incipient and 
predisposed 
tuberculosis 


ic 
ri- 


Nurses of Chicago 

Tuberculosis 

Institute. 


2 


2 


5 


3-5 


44 
cents 


q 


6 


100 


Incipient and 
predisposed 
tuberculosis 


ll 


Nurses of Public 
Health Ass'n. 


I^t0 2* 


I^ 


3 


5-5 


23 
cents 


I 


I 


37 


Incipient and 

predisposed 

tuberculosis 


1- 
is 


Visiting Nurse 
Ass'n. 


5 


I 


3 


5 


26 
cents 


20 


21 


28 


hicipient and predis- 
posed tuberculosis 



as 17 cents. 

years, and such schools are either being conducted or about to be opened in Newport, R. I 
1, D. C, Hazleton, Pa., Aiken, S. C, S. Manchester, Conn., Kenosha Wis., Schenectady, N. Y. 
icinnati, O., and undoubtedly in many other cities of which we should be glad to hear. 



i\}t Q^mtl}ttB &ag 



"I would not care to return to the closed room. My pleasure in my work 
makes me wish that for the sake of the teacher as well as the pupil every school 
room might be an open air room." 

Marie E. Powers. 

Teacher in the Providence Open Air School. 

"As I am an arrested case of tuberculosis, I could never have stood work in 
any place but an open air school. I never wish to go back to the usual badly 
ventilated school building." 

H. L. BiRDSALL 

Teacher in the Brooklyn Open Air School, "Susquehanna." 

' ' For a score or more years my experience as a teacher has been gained in the 
public schools of this country, in good old New England, California and the Middle 
West, Our teachers today are victims of nervousness, irritability and so-called 
over-work. Those who have tried the outdoor work have been capable of more 
prolonged labor with far less fatigue. This is my own testimony and nearly all 
associate teachers who have given it a fair trial feel there is no school for them like 
the Open Air School." 

Helen M. Mead 

Formerly teacher in Franklin Park School, Boston. 

"The work is heavier in an open air class but I feel much more able to accom- 
plish it. After the day's work I now return home fresh and do not suffer from 
the usual headache and dryness of throat that follow teaching in the ordinary 
room." 

Katherine C. Nolan 

Teacher in Open Air Room, Public School 21, New York City. 

"Fresh air has done wonders for me. I am strong and fat and have gained 
ten pounds since last year in spite of seven weeks' work in the summer. My 
complexion has undergone a complete change. Instead of being a sallow, dead, 
dry-skinned person, my skin is fresh, full of life and rosy." 

Henriette Roos 

Teacher in Open Window Room, Graham School, Chicago. 

"I have never in my life been so free from backache and extreme fatigue 
as I have been since I took the open air school. 'How do you keep so fresh?' 
asked another teacher last night. 'I am always nervously exhausted after a 
dark rainy day like this.' I told her, truthfully, that I had ceased to dread such 
days. Not even rain can dispel the sunshine in the open air school." 

Anna Bunker 

Teacher in the Elizabeth McCormick Open Air School, Chicago. 



Stbltograjilig nt (^pm Air ^diools 

Reprinted by permission from Open Air Schools, by Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, of the 
Russell Sage Foundation 

Baginsky, Adolf. Uber Waldschulen und Walderholungstatten. Zeits. fiir 

Psy. Path, und Hygiene, 1906, Vol. 8, pp. 161-177. 
Bendix, Dr. B. Uber die Charlottenburger Waldschule. Deutsche Viertel- 

jahrsschrift fiir offentliche Gesundheitspflege. September, 1906, Bd. 39, 

Heft 2, pp. 305-322. 

Verhandlagen der 7. Jahresversammlung des Deutschen Vereins fiir Schul- 

gesttndheitspflege, Verlag von Teubner, Berlin. 
Bienstock, Dr. Die Waldschule in Miilhausen. Strassbtirger Medizinische 

Zeitung, I Heft, 1907: Zeitschrift fiir Schulgesundheitspflege, No. 2, 1908. 

Leopold Voss, Hamburg. 
Bjorkman, Edwin. The Outdoor School. Van Norden, December, 1909. 

New York City. 
Bryce, Dr. P. H. Open-air Schools and Preventoria. Med. Review of 

Reviews, August, 1909. New Yo rk City. 
Byles, A. Holden. The Open-air School. The World's Work, January, 

1909. 20 Bedford St., London, W. C. 
Carrington, Dr. Thomas S. How to Build and Equip an Open-air School. 

The Sitrvey, April 23, 1910. New York City. 
Clark, Ida Hood. Open-air Schools. Proceedings N. E, A., 1909. Irwin 

Shepard, Winona, Minn. 

Open-air or Forest Schools of England and Germany. Kindergarten 

Review, April, 1910, Vol. 20, No. 8. Milton Bradley Co., Springfield, iViass., 

pp. 462-469. 
Crowley, Ralph H. Report by the Medical Superintendent on the Thackley 

Open-air School. City of Bradford Education Committee. December 

10, 1 9 10. Bradford, England. 

The Open-air School Movement. The British Journal of Tuberculosis, 

July,i909, Vol. 3, No. 3. G. E. Stechert & Co., 151-155 W. 25th St., 

New York City. 

The Open-air Recovery School, Chap. 14 of the Hygiene of School Life. 

Methuen & Co., 1910, London. 
Curtis, Elnora W. Outdoor Schools. Ped. Sent., June, 1909, pp. 169-194, 

Vol. 16. Worcester, Mass. Bibliography. (Best and most comprehensive 

treatment in English.) 

Outdoor Schools. American City, November, 1909, and January, 1910. 

American Publishing Co., New York City. 
Floyd, Cleavland. Care of Phthisis in Children through the Outdoor 

School. American Journal of Public Hygiene, November, 1909, pp. 

747—751. Boston, Mass. 
Godfrey, Betty. An Inexpensive Outdoor School. Good Housekeeping, 

Phelps Publishing Co., Springfield, Mass., May, 1910. 
Gorst, Sir John. Chapter in The Children of the Nation. 1907, Methuen 

& Co., 36 Essex St., London. 
Grau, Dr. H. Ergebnisse und Bedeutung der Waldschule. Centralblatt fur 

allgemeine Gesundheitspflege, 1906, 25. Jahr. Heft 11— 12, pp. 373-480. 
Gray, Ernest. Open-air Schools. North of England Educational Con- 
ference, 1909. 

107 



(ipptt Air Olritfiab^ra 



Hartt, Mary Bronson. A School on a Roof. Boston Transcript, May ii, 

1910, Boston. (Franklin Park, Boston, School.) 
Huetzer, Dr. Walderholungstatten und Waldschule. Centralblatt fur 

allgemeine Gesundheitspflege, 1906. 25. Jahr., Heft 1-2, pp. 72-77. 
Henderson, C. H. Outdoor Schools. The World's Work, January, 1909. 

Doubleday, Page & Co., New York City. 
Hyams, Isabel F., and Minot, Dr. James. Boston's Outdoor School. 

Journal of Outdoor Life, July, 1909. New York City. 

(The above article has been reprinted in "Outdoor Schools" published 

by the Boston Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis, 4 

Joy St.) 
Kaufman, Eunice H. School in the Forest. The Outlook, December 5, 

1908, pp. 793-795. New York City. 

(A description of the Forest School at Charlottenburg, Germany.) 
Kingsley, Sherman. Tuberculous Children on a City Roof. The Survey, 

March 5, 1910. New York City. Pp. 863-866. 

(An account of the school carried on by the United Charities of Chicago.) 
Koenig, Inspector. Die Waldschule in Miilhausen. Strassburger Druckerei 

and Verlagsanstalt. 
Kraft, Dr. A. Waldschulen. Verlag Art Institut, Orel Fiissli, 1908 

Ziirich. 28 pp. 
Kruesi, Walter E. The Providence Fresh-air School. Charities and the 

Commons, April 18, 1908. Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 97-99. New York City. 

School of Outdoor Life, Roxbury, Mass. The Playground, February, 1909, 

No. 23. Playground Association of America, i Madison Ave., New York. 

School of Outdoor Life. Charities and the Commons, December, 1908. 

Vol. 21, No. 12, pp. 447—449. New York City. 
Lange, W. Die Waldschule. Pad. Warte, October, Jahr. 15, Heft 20, 

pp. 1096-1107. 

Die Charlottenburger Waldschule. Neue Bahnen, 18, No. 2. 
Lennhoff, Dr. Rudolph. Walderholungstatten und Genesungheime. 

Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift j-iir bffentliche Gesundheitspflege, 1906, Bd. 39, 

pp. 71-107. 
De Montmorency, J. E. School Excursions and Vacation Schools. Board 

of Education. Special Reports on Educational Subjects. London, 

1907. Vol. 21, p. 77. 
Morin, Jeanne. An Open-air School in France. The Wide World, Decem- 
ber, 1909. International News Co., New York City. 
Neufert, Dr. H., and Bendix, Dr. B. Die CharlottenlDurger Waldschule im 

ersten Jahr ihres Bestehens. Urban und Schwartzenberg, Berlin, Wien, 

1906. 
Perkins, Dr. Jay. The Providence Fresh-air School. "Outdoor Schools," 

August, 1909. Boston Association for the Relief and Control of Tuber- 
culosis, 4 Joy St., Boston. 
Rose, Dr. Frederick. Open-air Schools. Progress, April, 1908. Vol. 3, 

No. 2, pp. 87-98. London, Southampton Row, W. C. 

Open-air Schools. Archiv fUr V olkswohlfahrt , April, 1909, 2. Jahr., Heft 

7, Berlin. 

A Brief Account of the Nature and Scope of Open-air Schools and Details 

and Estimate of the Model. Pamphlet T. C. C, Penny & Hill, Printers, 

London. 

The National Importance of Outdoor Schools. The British Journal of 

Tuberculosis, July, 1909. Vol. 3, No. 3, Bibliography. G. E. Stecher 

& Co., New York Citv. 



108 



(ipftt Atr Cruaatipra 



Open-air Schools. Published by the Royal Sanitary Institute, Margaret 
St., London, W. 

Sandt, H. Waldschulen. In Schulhygienisches Taschenbuch, Hamburg, 
1907, pp. 260—266. 

Schaefer, Dr. Zur Erotfnung der Waldschule der Stadt. M. Gladbach. 
Centralblatt fur allgemeineGesundheitspflege, igo6, 25. Jahr, Heft 7, pp. 
31 1-3 15. Verlag Martin Hager, Bonn. 

Schwarz, Karl W. Waldschulen. Die Gesundheitwarte der Schule, 3. Jahr., 
August, 1905, pp. 200—202. 

Slocum, Maude M. America's Fresh-air School in Providence. Good Health, 
July, 1908, pp. 383-385. Battle Creek, Michigan. 

Spencer, Mrs. Anna Garlin. Open-air Schools. International Congress of 
Tuberculosis, 1908, Vol. 2, pp. 612-618. 

Stoll, Dr. Henry F. The Hartford Preventorium: An Outdoor School for 
Delicate Children. Journal of Outdoor Life, March, 1910. New York. 

Talbot, Winthrop F. The Physical Basis of Attention. Ad. and Proc. 
of Nat. Ed. Ass'n, 1908, pp. 932—936. 

Thiel, Peter J. Die Waldschule in der freien Natur, eine padagogische 
Notwendigkeit und Moglichkeit. Internationaler Kongress fiir Schul- 
hygiene, Nuremberg, April, 1904, Vol. 2, pp. 346-352. 

Watt, William E. Fresh Air for Average School Children. The Survey, 
March 5, 1910, pp. 866-869. New York City. 
(Account of the fresh-air- room experiment in the Graham School, Chicago.) 

Williams, Ralph P. Sheffield Open-air School. British Journal of Tuber- 
culosis, April, 1910, pp. 101-106. G. E. Stechert & Co., New York. 
Sheffield Open-air-recovery School. School Hygiene, March, 19 10, Vol. i, 
No. 3, pp. 136-143. School Hygiene Publishing Co., 2 Charlotte St., 
London, W. 

Wing, Frank E. Report of Chicago's first Outdoor School and its Results. 
The Chicago Tuberculosis Institute, 158 Adams St., Chicago, No- 
vember, 1909. 

Watt, William E. Open Air. Little Chronicle Pubhshing Co., 358 Dear- 
born St. 



109 



ICtst 0f ©fl^r^rs of t\^t 
Mttttfb OII|antt?a of Ollitrago 

Charles H. Wacker, President 

Granger Farwell, First Vice President 

Mrs. Potter Palmer, Second Vice President 

Ernest A. Hamill, Treasurer 

Leverett Thompson, Secretary 

Dr. Charles R. Henderson, Chairman Executive Committee 

Frank O. Wetmore, Chairman Finance Committee 

Sherman C. Kingsley, General Superintendent 

Directors 

To Serve for Three Years 

Mrs. Joseph T. Bowen Nathan B. Higbie 

Arthur L. Farwell Dr. Frank S. Johnson 

Granger Farwell Murry Nelson, Jr. 

Mitchell D. Follansbee Charles A. Paltzer 

David R. Forgan Frank O. Wetmore 

Dr. Charles R. Henderson Hon. Fred A. Busse, Mayor, ex-officio. 

To Serve for Two Years 

Miss Jane Addams Howard Shaw 

Mrs. Emmons Blaine William R. Stirling 

J. J. Dau Thomas Templeton 

Dr. Henry B. Favill Leverett Thompson 

Mrs. Potter Palmer E. H. Valentine 

Julius Rosenwald Charles H. Wacker 

To Serve for One Year 

Charles L. Allen Ernest A. Hamill 

Walter S. Brewster W. S. Jackson 

Benjamin Carpenter Arthur Meeker 

R. T. Crane, Jr. Adolph Nathan 

Marvin A. Farr Potter Palmer, Jr. 

Mrs. Dunlap Smith 



110 



a union of 

The Relief and Aid Society and 

The Bureau of Charities 

Outline of Activities 



WORK FOR 
NEEDY FAMILIES 
THROUGH THESE 
DISTRICT OFFICES 



SPECIAL 

SOCIAL 

ACTIVITIES 



GENERAL 

SOCIAL 

ACTIVITIES 



REGISTRATION 



INQUIRY 
DEPARTMENT 

COMMITTEE ON 
PUBLICITY 



FINANCE 
COMMITTEE 



Central — 2729 Michigan Avenue 
Englewood — 226 W. 6,^d Street 
Lower North — 1116 Wells Street 
Northern — 2537 Sheffield Avenue 
Northwestern — 1551 Milwaukee Avenue 
South Chicago — gioi Commercial Avenue 
Southwestern — 2123 S. Ashland Avenue 
Stock Yards— 723 W. 47th Street 
West Side — 940 W. Madison Street 
Mary Crane Nursery — 818 Ewing Street 



Home tor Men 

Employment 

Relief 



THE 
HOMELESS 

Social Service Work at Cook County Hospital 

Dispensary 

Milk Depot 

Diet Kitchen 

Laundry 

Instruction to Mothers 

Camp (Algonquin) 

Outings 

Excursions 

Baby Tents 

Diets 

Classes for Mothers 

Home Instruction 

Visiting Housekeeper 



MARY CRANE 
NURSERY 

with these 
departments 

SUMMER 
OUTING5 



INFANT 
WELFARE 



OPEN AIR SCHOOL 

r Participation in State and National Charity Conferences 
-< Institutional Member American Red Cross 
L Participates in Constructive Philanthropic Movements 

Application 

Registration 

Records 

Correspondence (outside reference) 

Reports on character and standing of charitable and benevolent 
enterprises 

Reports 

Pamphlets 
Charts 

f Appeals 
-\ Funds 
L Accounting — Auditing 



111 




112 



